Saved
by Dixon-Vixen13
Summary: This story is set during the hunt for the dirty thirty and explores a different side to Owen, that we so far have only had small glimpses of. Because I think the character has so much more potential. Rated M for violence and mature themes. I have chosen to ignore the 'Sam' story line and Amanda messing with Owens head. Enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

**Ok, so this is my first Nikita fanfic. I am a huge fan of this show and I love Owen as a character and I think he has a lot of potential, so I came up with this idea. It is set when the team are hunting the 'Dirty Thirty', but I'm going to ignore the whole Amanda messing with his mind and the whole Sam story line for the purpose of this. I hope you enjoy, and please don't forget to review :) Oh and I'm not caught up with Season 4 here in NZ so no spoilers please!**

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It was just like any other mission, the whole team working together to hunt down another one of the 'Dirty Thirty' as they liked to call them. What none of them knew was that this mission would change one of them forever…

Ryan led the briefing as he explained the situation to the team. "Our next 'Dirty Thirty' target, Markus Brandt" he told the team as Birkhoff put the file up on the big screen. "He was a division cleaner, one of the best, Owen you may have heard of him?"

"Yeah, I've heard of him, nothin' we can't handle" Owen smirked.

"Intel we have so far suggests that Brandt has gone away from the 'cleaning' business and set himself up quite nicely as an arms dealer. Orders on this one are track and engage the target, and take him alive if you can" Fletcher explained.

"Ok so Sean and I have devised a strategy to get us into the building, we go quickly and quietly. We treat this as a grab mission, not a kill mission" Michael said, continuing to go through the mission plan with the team.

It didn't take long until they were on the ground and making their way through the building. Efficient and surgical, as planned. Nikita and Michael ran point, making their way from the front of the building. Sean and Alex entered from the rear of the building, and Owen from a side door.

Each team made their way, room by room disabling any one in their way. "I have eyes on a room full of guys, one could be Brandt" Nikita spoke into her comms. "Michael and I can't take them all quietly, we're gonna need some back-up"

"Copy" Alex replied, "Birkhoff, guide me to Nikita's location"

"Bringing up schematics now" Birkhoff replied.

"I've got a couple guys headed down to the basement" Owen informed the team. "I'm gonna shadow them".

"Copy" came the reply from the rest of the team, as they began to converge on the room full of men.

Effortlessly the four of them took out the men, only to find that their target was not among them.

"I've got Brandt down in the basement with a couple of guys, I'm engaging" Owen spoke into him comm unit.

"Owen, wait for back up…. Owen!" Nikita called.

"Damn it" Michael yelled as they took off toward the basement.

Owen burst through the basement door, knife in hand. Quickly he dispatched the first guard, while another ushered his boss toward a second exit. Owen pursued only to be tackled by a third guard.

He covered his face from the man's punches and landed a couple of his own in the guy's ribs. Owen managed to turn the tables on him, flipping him over and pinning him on the floor. He tried to subdue him without killing him, when out of the corner of his eye he saw movement over the other side of the room. His eyes flicked up to meet those of a terrified woman, bound and strung from the ceiling, her feet barely touching the floor. She looked like she was in agony.

Owen still had a hold of the guard as Michael and Nikita came rushing in. "I've got this, get Brandt" Owen yelled, gesturing his head towards the door he escaped from.

"Screw this" Owen said to himself as he struggled with the man beneath him. With one quick twist he snapped the guard's neck.

Owen got up, walking slowly towards the woman in the corner. She looked like she had been through hell. Her clothes lay on the floor in tatters; she was left in nothing but her underwear. Her body bruised and broken. Something inside of Owen snapped. He felt angry, which was normal for him, but he also felt something else. Something he hadn't felt before. When he looked into her eyes, he could feel all her pain. All he wanted to do was make it go away.

He approached her carefully, but she started to scream beneath the gag in her mouth. "It's ok… it's ok, I'm not gonna hurt you I promise"

The woman continued to scream, tears running down her face. She had every reason to be scared. She just witnessed him snap a guy's neck. Who wouldn't be scared?

"I just want to help you, I swear" Owen tried to reassure her. "I'm gonna cut the ropes ok, don't freak out" he whispered as he grabbed his knife. The woman shook her head in protest afraid of what he was going to do to her.

"It's ok" Owen whispered, as he reached up cutting the rope that held her up to the ceiling, catching her as she started to fall to the ground. He lowered her to the floor and backed off a little, giving her space to calm down.

"I'm gonna cut the rope from your hands ok" Owen told her as he leaned toward her, only to have her back away. "I promise, I won't hurt you. If I wanted to do that I would've done it already… let me help you" he said to her softly.

He inched closer to her, taking the rope and cutting her free, careful not to touch her skin too much. He could tell this girl was scared, the last thing he wanted to do was make it worse. Slowly he reached up to her face, removing the gag from her mouth.

He scanned his eyes over her body, she was thin, and looked weak. God only knows how long she had been down there. Seeing her curled up in the corner, defenceless, hurt and shivering pulled on his heart strings. Something he wasn't even sure was possible anymore.

Owen stood up, removing his Kevlar vest, and pulling off his shirt too. The look of horror in her eyes as he did so, damn near broke him. She though he was going to rape her? What had these sick bastards done to her? It made his blood boil.

Quickly he put his vest back on. "It's alright, I'm not gonna hurt you. Here put this on" he said as he knelt down beside her, handing her his shirt. The poor girl couldn't cover herself up fast enough as she hastily threw the shirt on.

Something about her had Owen mesmerised. Something in her eyes, there was pain and suffering, but beneath all that there was a hint of something more. Strength maybe? This woman looked like she had been to hell and back, but still she wasn't showing signs of giving up. She was a fighter.

Nikita and Michael came back into the room, both out of breath. "Bastard got away" Michael told him.

"Guys… we have to help her" Owen pleaded as he walked toward the couple. "She's been through hell here".

"You think you can get her up?" Nikita asked. "She looks pretty skittish"

"Working on it" he replied.

"We gotta move fast, reinforcements could be on the way. Nikita and I will bring the car around, you have five minutes"

As the two left, Owen walked back over to the young woman who was still curled up in the corner, clutching at Owen's shirt, desperate to cover herself up as much as possible.

"My name is Owen" he said gently. "I'm gonna get you out of her ok, my friends and I are gonna take you some place safe"

She looked up at him with her bright blue eyes, a somewhat untrusting expression on her face.

"I promise, I'm not gonna let anyone else hurt you ok. I just want to help. Will you let me help you?" he asked, hoping that by some miracle he was getting through to her, even a little bit.

She stared at him for a while, processing his words in her head. Wondering whether he could be trusted or not. After some internal debate, slowly she nodded her head.

"Great, c'mon we don't have much time. These guys friends could be on their way" he told her nodding toward the men on the floor as he held out his hand for her.

The look of fear in her eyes at the mention of these men was enough to tell Owen that there was no way in hell we was going to leave her here.

Slowly she reached out a small shaking hand, and placed it in Owens larger one. Carefully he helped her up off the ground, and started to lead her to the door. Suddenly she collapsed to the ground, her body too weak to walk.

"Shit" Owen cursed… Plan B he thought to himself.

"Ok you're not gonna like this, but the only way I get you out of here is if I carry you ok"

She looked frightened at the idea of him touching her body. "Please, it's the only way" he insisted. "I will keep you safe, but you need to trust me. I have to get you out of here" Owen pleaded with the young woman. "I won't leave you behind".

Again, she nodded gently. He crouched down next to her. "Put your arms around my neck" he instructed. Hesitantly she did as he said. Slowly and carefully he slid one of his arms under her knees and the other around her back, hoisting her up and holding her against his muscular chest as he carried her from the room.

They made their way through the building and out the front where Michael and Nikita were waiting with the car, along with Sean and Alex in their vehicle. Just as she saw daylight… freedom, the woman passed out from exhaustion in Owen's arms.

Carefully he climbed into the back seat and lay her down beside him, covering her with a blanket that Nikita handed to him.

"Good work Owen" Nikita told him as she gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze. She could tell from the look in his eye that he was concerned for the girl. "She'll be ok". Owen looked up at her briefly and gave her a nod then returned his focus to the unconscious woman beside him.

"Ryan, the target got away. We are heading back, and we have a passenger…" Michael spoke into his comms.

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**I intend to make this a multi chapter story if I can keep up my inspiration for this one. Please review and let me know what you think of chapter one. And I apologise for any errors, I wrote this late at night when inspiration struck!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I just want to say a quick thank you to anyone who is still reading this or has just come across it. I haven't written much lately after having a baby, but have recently been rewatching some Nikita and remembered I had great plans for this story so I have picked it up again :) I hope you enjoy. There will be more chapters to come!**

When the team arrived back at division, the young woman slowly came to. It took her a while to work out where she was, and when she locked eyes with Owen, she remembered that he had gotten her out. She was no longer in the horrible, torturous place.

These people, these strangers, they saved her. But still she was afraid. She didn't know them. For all she knew they would just do to her what the last people had. She curled up tightly next to the door, as far away from anyone as she could possibly be.

She watched silently as the slender and beautiful woman turned to the man that had introduced himself as Owen and gave him a small nod as her and the tall dark haired man exited the vehicle. She scanned her surroundings, wondering where these people had taken her.

"This is our base of operations" Owen spoke softly. "You'll be safe here. We have doctors that can patch you up. A place to sleep, warm food and people to keep you safe" he said reassuringly.

Still the woman was not convinced. It had been a long time since anyone had offered her anything without strings attached.

"Can you walk?" he asked her.

She replied with a slight shrug of her shoulders, feeling weak and embarrassed. Owen got out and walked around to her door, opening it for her and gesturing for her to come with him. She gave him a hesitant look, and he just replied with a smile and waited patiently for her.

Carefully she reached out for the door to support her weight, climbing slowly of the vehicle. Owen stood by, ready to help her if she needed it.

Her legs were shaky, her whole body weak and aching all over. She felt like she would never recover from this. She thought maybe it would have been better if they had just left her there to die.

With the blanket still clutched tightly to her body, the woman slowly followed Owen through what appeared to be some sort of garage and into an elevator. As she got inside her legs began to give out and she stumbled, grabbing onto the railing inside. Owen reached out to steady her but she flinched and backed away from him. She was like an animal that had been abused its whole life, unwilling to trust anybody, even if they are trying to help. Unable to tell who wanted to help you and who wanted to hurt you.

"It's ok" Owen spoke, as he retracted his hands. "I'm just… here if you need help ok".

The elevator ride felt long, it seemed to drag on and on and her legs were tired. Her body aching, screaming out for some rest. That's when it occurred to her, that she couldn't even remember the last time she had eaten anything. Four? Maybe five days ago? She couldn't really be sure. She had lost track of time locked down in that bastard's basement. She was dying for a glass of water.

A ding rung out to indicate they had reached their destination. The doors opened to reveal a corridor with a series of rooms. A woman in a white coat was waiting outside one of the doors. She gestured to Owen to bring the young woman inside.

"You ready?" Owen asked her. "Let's get you patched up" he said as he offered her a hand.

The young woman hesitated for a while, but knowing she could barely stand for another moment she reluctantly reached out for Owen. She leaned into him for support as he crouched lower putting her arm over his shoulder and supporting her waist with his other hand. Slowly he helped her to the room and up onto doctor's examination bed.

She sat on the bed and pulled her legs tightly to her chest. The doctor could tell that this woman had been through a lot. "Alright, my name is Anna and I'm just going to take a look at the cuts on your arms and legs to start with ok?" the doctor said softly.

"I'll wait outside" Owen said and he turned to leave.

Quickly the young woman's hand darted out grasping at Owen's wrist. He turned back to her to see a pleading look in her eye. She wanted him to stay? She held on tight, and she looked so scared. There was no way Owen was going to leave her.

"It's ok. I'll stay right here then" he whispered softly as he sat in the seat beside the bed.

The doctor proceeded to bandage up her wounds, some requiring a few stitches. The young woman flinched each time the doctor touched her, yet she didn't move a muscle while the stitches were being put in. Clearly she had endured a lot of pain and had become somewhat numb to the physical pain. But the emotional and psychological pain had clearly taken its toll on her.

Once done with her arms and legs the doctor moved on to the few scratches and cuts on her face, being as gentle and quick as she possibly could. "Now, I know this is hard, but I need you to lift up your shirt so that I can fix up any other injuries you may have ok?" the doctor informed her.

The girl glanced over at Owen. He lightly squeezed her hand and gave her a reassuring smile. Still unable to let go of Owen just yet, she lifted the shirt with her other hand, revealing a few more cuts, most of which required more stitches. Man this was one tough girl.

The doctor finished up and gave her a smile. "All done with that" she told her. "I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but I am assuming you were raped, is that correct?" she asked. The girl looked down, ashamed to admit what those men had done to her.

"I'll take that as a yes" she sighed. "Well I know that this is very uncomfortable and invasive and I'm very sorry, but for your benefit it would be best for me to check you and run some tests" the doctor said as she glanced quickly over at Owen. "If you don't want me to, that is fine, it's completely up to you. I just want to make sure you are healthy and can recover as quickly as possible ok?" The girl just gave a small nod in reply. As painful as it was for her, she needed to know that she was clean after what she had been through.

The doctor looked over to Owen again. "Do you mind waiting outside while we do this?"

"Sure thing doc" Owen replied. "I'll be right outside ok" he told the young woman as she reluctantly let go of his hand.

The doctor pulled the curtain round and instructed the girl on what she was going to do. She just closed her eyes and willed it all to be over.

"Right. We are all done now. You are very brave, and very strong" the doctor told her as she gently squeezed her hand.

"Here is a bottle of water and some clean clothes for you" the doctor said as she handed her a small pile from a cupboard. "I think they should be the right size. There is a shower right through there" she said gesturing to a door on her left. "You can get cleaned up".

Carefully she climbed down from the bed and made her way to the bathroom. She chugged down the water as fast as humanly possible and then made her way to the shower. The hot water felt amazing on her aching body. As the soap washed away all the filth she felt a little lighter somehow. Almost like she had just washed away the whole ordeal. Of course she knew it wasn't that simple. She would be dealing with this for a while and she knew that. But for now, this was progress.

As she pulled on the clothes the doctor had given her, she found they fit perfectly. She eyed up the white shirt and then looked back over at the shirt Owen had given her and decided to wear that instead. She had no idea why, it just felt… right. For some reason it made her feel more safe.

She exited the bathroom to find Owen and the doctor talking. He turned to her, and when he realised that she had opted to keep wearing his shirt he couldn't help but give her a smile. That small gesture of offering her something to cover up with had made her feel somewhat safer in her time of despair, and Owen was glad that he could do something to help her, even if it was something so simple. From the moment he saw her, all he wanted to do was help her, to make her pain go away. And he was determined that little by little he would do that for her.


	3. Update

Anyone still following/reading this story please don't be shy and drop me a review! Let me know if your still interested in further chapters!


	4. Chapter 3

"So this will be your room" Owen told her as he escorted her down another series of hallways to a bunch of recruit rooms and directed her to a particular one. "You can stay here as long as you need, and for the next few days I'll be staying in the room to the left of yours" he said with a smile. Knowing that Owen would be nearby made her feel a bit more at ease about staying in this new place full of all these strangers.

The young woman wandered into the room, taking everything in. There wasn't much in the room, but it was more than she had been given in a long time. She sat down on the bed and ran her hand along the duvet. It felt warm, soft and inviting and she was so exhausted.

Owen stood in the doorway just watching her for a while before he spoke. "You know my name, you wanna tell me yours?"

She looked up at him but did not reply. She knew that she could probably trust Owen. He had been nothing but kind to her so far, and something about him just made her feel safe. Just a little. But with all that had happened she was left so untrusting.

"Ok. No hurry. How about some food then? I bet you're starving huh?" he asked, and waited patiently for her response.

Again she looked up at him, fiddling with the hem of his shirt she was wearing, she gave him a small nod.

"Alright then" he smiled. "Well let's make it something worthwhile then. If you could have anything what would it be? I will do my best to make it happen"

She sat there for a while and thought about it. There were so many things that crossed her mind. But there was just one thing she kept coming back to, and for the first time she spoke, just one word.

"Cheeseburger?" she asked rather than stated. Almost as though she was seeking his permission, or asking if it was easy enough for him to acquire. She didn't want to be a burden.

"You want a cheeseburger?" Owen confirmed.

She replied with the just nod of her head as she stared intently at him.

"Sure thing" Owen replied with a sweet smile. "Give me a little time and I'll have someone pick you up a cheeseburger. Be back soon, you rest up".

With that Owen left the room in search of the others. He found Michael and Nikita together with Ryan in the briefing room.

"Hey Owen, how's it going with our new… Guest?" Nikita asked, unable to come up with a better title for the young woman Owen had saved.

"Doc's patched her up. She's got quite a few stitches, poor girls been through hell" he replied.

"What have you found out about her"? Michael asked.

"Nothing. She is pretty scared and shaken up. It might take her a while to trust any of us. The only thing I do know, is when the doc checked her over there were signs of not only physical abuse, but sexual too. Which isn't too surprising given the state I found her in" Owen said through gritted teeth. It pained him to even mention it. "She wouldn't confirm it when the doctor asked, but the look in her eyes said it all" he told them.

"Bastards" Nikita growled.

"Has she spoken at all?" Ryan asked, leaving his papers to join the discussion.

"One word is all I got" Owen laughed a little in reply.

"Oh?" Nikita questioned.

"I figured she would be pretty hungry, so I asked her if she could have anything to eat what would it be, and I would do my best to get it for her" he told them. "She said one word in reply… 'cheeseburger'" he laughed.

"Wow" Michael laughed. "Good choice".

"Alex and Sean are still on their way back here after following up on a lead on another member of the Dirty Thirty" Nikita informed him. "We can get them to grab something, I'll call Alex"

Nikita handed the phone to Owen after getting the run down on the lead from Alex. He gave her the order, and told her He would meet them in garage.

"I'm gonna head back down there", he said giving Nikita back her cell. "I'll see if I can find out a little more. A name would be good at least. Check back in with you guys later" he called out as he left the room.

Owen made his way back down to the garage to grab his gear from the truck. He pulled off his tact vest and slipped on a clean shirt. He squared away his guns and equipment back in the cabinets and locked them up. Just as he was done, Alex and Sean pulled up in their SUV.

"Great timing guys" he called out as he wandered towards the couple.

"A big fat greasy cheeseburger!" Alex exclaimed holding up the food. "Just what the doctor ordered" she laughed as she handed over the paper bag.

"Perfect! Thanks Alex" Owen smiled as he took the food from her. "Let's hope this might win her over a little"

"Good luck!" Sean said as he gave Owen a clap on the back.

"Thanks man. Cya!" he yelled out as he jogged away back to the elevator.

He arrived back at her door and gave a small knock before opening it just a little to peek inside in case she was asleep. She lay curled up on the bed and turned to see who it was.

"I got food" Owen said with a grin, holding up the paper bag as he made his way into her room. She scooted along to the head of the bed, and Owen sat down at the end, setting the food down between them. "As promised, a delicious cheeseburger as well as fries and a milkshake. I don't know why but you strike me as a milkshake kind of girl rather than a soda" he told her as he handed her one of the drinks.

She took the drink from him and brought the straw to her lips to take a sip. "It's banana" he informed her. The corner of her mouth curled up into a small smile before she chugged back some of the cool milky drink. Banana had always been her favourite flavour.

Owen took a sip of his Chocolate milkshake as he watched her. Slowly she reached out for the paper bag and opened it up to peer inside. Gently she tore the bag down the middle and spread it out. She took a cheeseburger and some fries and laid them down close to her, then took the other set and leaned forward, placing them on the paper bag in front of Owen giving him a quick and short nervous smile, before returning her eyes back to her own food.

He had intended to let her eat all the food, but seeing as she was willing to share it with him he was more than happy to eat with her. This was progress, he even got a small smile from her.

He watched as she shovelled fries into her mouth. Clearly she was starving. She looked like she was enjoying each bite, but at the same time she was devouring it as quickly as possible. Owens pace was somewhat slower as he silently observed her. The look of delight on her face when she took her first bite of cheeseburger brought a smile to his face.

The each finished their food together in silence. Occasionally Owen would look up from his meal to find her watching him, however she would always quickly look back down at her milkshake.

Owen bundled up the rubbish when they were finished and climbed off the bed. "You're probably really tired. I'll let you get some rest. I won't be too far away, if you can't find me, there will always be someone around who can ok" he reassured her. "Do you need anything else?" he asked. The young woman just shook her head in response. "Ok, well I'll see you later" he said as he turned to leave. Just as Owen reached the door, she spoke in a voice so quiet he almost missed it.

"Keira"

"I'm sorry?" he asked turning back to her.

"My name… is Keira" she whispered with a small smile as she lay back down and curled up with the blanket clutched tightly in her fists.

Owen gave her a sweet smile and left the room, closing the door quietly behind him. He stood there for a moment just thinking about the events of the day. When he decided to take her away from that place he knew that she had strength, he could see through all the pain she was suffering to the person she was inside. Only someone with real strength and determination could have survived being in that basement.

He would do anything he could to help her through the aftermath. Slowly she was beginning to open up to him, trusting him just a little and Owen knew for sure that he had made the right choice in bringing her back to division.

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**Please take the time to review. Your feedback means a lot and gives me inspiration to continue!**


	5. Chapter 4

Later that night Owen was struggling to sleep. He couldn't get the image of Keira tied up in that basement out of his mind. Her body bruised and broken, the look of terror in her eyes, it was something that was going to stick with him for a while. He exhaled loudly and rolled over trying to get comfortable, but every time he closed his eyes there she was. He lay there staring at the ceiling when suddenly the silence was filled with piercing screams.

"Keira!" he exclaimed as he lept off his bed and tore out of the room, not even stopping to throw a shirt on. He didn't bother to knock, he just burst through her door to find her huddled in the corner holding the blanket so tight that her knuckles where white.

Owen quickly made his way across the room and knelt down in front of her. "Keira?" he whispered. "It's me, Owen. Are you ok? What happened?" he asked.

She continued to breathe heavily as she wiped tears from her tightly closed eyes, but didn't reply to his question.

"Talk to me. Let me help you" he pleaded.

Her body trembled as she tried hard to regain some composure. Again she angrily brushed her tears away. Annoyed at herself for showing such weakness. But how could she stay strong through all of this. Everything that had happened, it wore her down. She felt like a shadow of her former self. Would she ever be able to go back to who she was before? All she wanted was to feel normal again.

"Nightmare" she whispered as she looked up at him, another tear rolling down her cheek.

Slowly he reached out, careful not to startle her, giving her enough time to back away if she wanted. To his surprise she didn't move, she just continued to stare at him. So he brought his hand up to her face and gently brushed away the tears from her cheeks. He let his hand linger for a moment as he asked "Is there anything I can do?"

She shrugged her shoulders as her body slumped a little in defeat. She was so exhausted. The whole time she was in that basement she had barely slept. Afraid what would happen to her if she did. She felt she always needed to be prepared when anyone came in.

It was then that Owen decided to take a chance. He shuffled closer to her and sat down with his legs apart. "Here" he whispered as he opened his arms and beckoned for her to come closer. "Trust me, it helps".

He knew it was probably a long shot, but he also knew that sometimes when he felt lost and helpless, something as simple as a hug could make things a whole lot better. Just like the time he apologised to Nikita, for Daniel. When she hugged him, it was like a huge weight was lifted from his shoulders. It was no longer such a heavy burden for him to carry alone. It would forever be something that he would regret, but knowing that Nikita forgave him for the part he played in it, made it that much easier to bear.

Leaning against the wall, he waited to see what she would do. A little cautiously she slid closer to Owen, nestling herself between his legs as he gently wrapped one arm around her shoulder pulling her into his bare chest. Her whole body was rigid, like she was afraid to relax, yet she didn't change her mind. She didn't try to move away. His other hand rested on her tear stained cheek. He traced his thumb over her cheekbone as he listened to her breathing start to slow down. After a few minutes her body stopped shaking and he could feel a little bit of the tension slowly dissolve away.

They stayed curled up in the corner for quite some time before either of them spoke again. Owen was the first to break the silence. "Do you want to talk about it? He asked.

She simply shook her head and buried herself further into his chest, wanting to hide away from it all just wishing she could forget it ever happened.

"I'm not gonna make you do anything you don't want to ok. But whenever you are ready to talk, I will be here to listen" he told her. She nodded her head to indicate she had heard but did not speak.

He had no idea how long he sat there with Keira in his arms, an hour maybe two. Eventually he felt her whole body relax into him. A few minutes later her breathing evened out and he knew she had fallen asleep. He waited a short while longer before he slipped one arm under her legs and pushed himself up off the floor, steadying himself on the wall, Keira held securely in his arms.

Carefully, trying not to wake her, he carried her back over to her bed. He laid her down gently, pulling the blanket up around her shoulders. She stirred though and woke up, grabbing hold of Owens wrist.

"It's ok" he whispered. "I just thought you would be more comfortable on the bed" he told her.

Her grip loosened a little, but still she didn't release his arm. "Don't go" she pleaded. She was afraid to be alone, in the dark, in this foreign place. Afraid that if he left the nightmares would come back again. Something about Owens presence was calming and reassuring and she wasn't ready to be without it yet.

Owen was about to sit down on the floor next to her bed when she shifted over a little, making some room for him. She wanted him to lie down next to her? He certainly hadn't expected that. Of course it was purely a comfort thing, and he was more than happy to provide that for her. So he climbed onto the bed beside her and got comfortable. She nestled back into his chest just like she had before and he wrapped his arm back around her.

"Thank you" she whispered softly.

"Anytime Keira."

It took him a while to fall asleep too. He found himself constantly listening out for her breathing. Anytime she stirred or made a noise he was ready to help her fight away her demons. He could feel the beat of her heart against his chest, picking up on when it hastened. He was worried that she would slip into another nightmare. After all she had endured he wanted her to have a undisturbed sleep for the remainder of the night. So he monitored her like that for what seemed like a few hours until he finally felt that she was ok. That he could let his guard down. Slowly he drifted off to sleep with her safely nestled into his chest.

When morning came, Owen was the first to wake. He was pleased that Keira hadn't had anymore nightmares while he was with her. He contemplated slipping out before she woke. He didn't want her to feel awkward about the fact that she had spent the night in his arms. Especially with what she had been through. But after all, she had entrusted him with her safety and he didn't want to jeopardise that trust by leaving her to wake up alone. So he waited patiently.

A short while later she started to wake and when she came to she got a bit of a shock when she realised she was cuddled up to a half-naked Owen.

"Ummm… Hi" she said a little nervously as she shuffled away slightly, removing her hands from his chest.

"Morning" he replied with a smile. "Did you sleep better?" he asked. Keira gave a small nod in reply.

"Well, glad I could help" he smiled as he sat up. He could sense that she was a little embarrassed about the whole situation. "I'll um leave you to it and go find a shirt" he laughed as he gestured toward his bare chest which earned him a small smile from her. "Meet you in the corridor in 10? I'll take you to the mess hall for breakfast" he told her as he got up and headed for the door.

"Sure" she replied with a little smile.

As he got out into the corridor he bumped into Nikita. "Owen?" she questioned, taking in his shirtless appearance and the fact that he was leaving the young woman's room.

"Nikita. Hi… uhh this is not what it looks like" he quickly told her.

"Uhuh? Well it looks like you're leaving her room half naked" she replied with a small grin.

"Okay well then it is what it looks like. But, it's not what you think" he laughed a little nervously. "Look, Keira woke up screaming in the middle of the night. I went in to make sure she was ok. She was having nightmares. I held her, comforted her and she fell asleep in my arms. That's all" he explained.

"It's ok Owen, I'm not judging. I think what you're doing for her is great. She's been through a lot. She needs someone she can trust. Someone to help her, make her feel safe. Her name is Keira?"

"Yeah she told me last night after dinner"

"Oh so that cheeseburger did the trick huh" Nikita laughed.

"It helped a little" he smiled. "I'm gonna take her to the mess for breakfast, I'll catch up with you later" he told her as he headed back to his room. He grabbed a change of clothes before going to take a quick shower. Returning a few minutes later, he waited out in the hall for Keira.

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**Thank you for reading. Please take the time to review. Let me know what you think of the chapter and the story in general. Help motivate me to write further chapters :)**


	6. Chapter 5

Down in the mess hall, all eyes were on Owen and Keira as they sat together, mostly in silence and ate their breakfast. It pissed him off a little, everyone staring. But he tried to just shake it off like it didn't bother him, for Keira's sake at least. He could hear their whispers, they all wondered who she was and why she was there. Where she had come from, what had happened to her that she looked so beat up. And honestly, he wondered some of the same things himself.

Owen looked up to see Alex and Sean enter the hall and head over to get some food. He gave them both a nod as if to say 'morning'. He looked back at Keira to find she had finished her food and she was just watching him. He gave her a smile, and in return he received a very quick, little smile from her.

"You still hungry?" he asked.

She gave a small nod in reply, and looked around nervously as though she was afraid to go and get more food. He gave her a look of slight sympathy and understanding. He knew what it must have felt like for her, being in a place full of strangers. Not sure of what to say or do.

"Here, I'll get you some more" Owen told her as he held his hand out for her to pass her plate over.

As he took the plate from her hands he heard one of the recruits at the next table over mouthing off to some of his buddies. "I thought this was a new division" he said rather loudly. "Since when are we taking in _strays_" he said with an annoyed tone in his voice as he looked over at the two of them.

The way he said the word strays really pissed him off. Owen was ready to give the smart mouth punk a good tune up. He quickly stood up, about to advance on the guy when Alex sauntered past with Sean on their way to join him and Keira at their table. As they passed the douchebag Alex swiftly slapped him across the back of the head with a loud 'smack'.

"Hey! What the fuck, Alex" the recruit yelled as he stood up and puffed out his chest in an attempt to be staunch. Truth is Alex could have put him on his ass if she wanted to. She spun back around to look at him as he tried to get in her face, but there was no chance with Sean standing by. He was quick to get between the two of them, pushing the guy back with his forearm and giving him a warning stare not to test him or he would get flattened.

"That was just a warning" Alex told him. "Next time you should keep your mouth shut about things you know nothing about" she continued as she stared him down somewhat angrily. "Not that it is anyone's business, but she was in some trouble and needed our help. Everyone deserves a second chance, that is after all what division is all about" she said as she addressed the whole room so that everyone was clear on the matter. "Even a dick like you got a second chance Finn, but you won't have a third so I suggest you keep your smart mouth shut, ok" Alex threatened. She was only half serious. It's not like she was going to go all Percy on it and cancel the guy. But he needed to be put in his place.

"Sit down" Sean instructed as he pushed down on the young man's shoulder, forcing him back into his seat. He quietly went back to his breakfast without a peep, embarrassed at being called out by Alex.

Sean and Alex took a seat at the table with Owen and Keira. Alex looked over at the young woman and gave her an encouraging smile. Keira responded with a nod of thanks and let out a little chuckle at what she had just witnessed. It was a new feeling for her, having people that cared. People that would stick up for her. She was already starting to like this girl. She must have been around the same age as herself, but she looked as though she had seen enough of the world to know how things worked.

"I'm Alex by the way, and this is Sean" she spoke as she gestured to her partner.

"Keira" she smiled shyly in return.

"It's nice to meet you" Sean said, giving her a smile.

"Hey Owen, you up for a rematch on that sparring session later? Say 10? I think I can kick your ass this time" he laughed.

"You're on Navy Seal" Owen chuckled.

"And none of that dirty 'cleaner' style crap you pulled last time alright"

"A mans gotta do what he can to win. I thought you seals were trained to be sharper" he quipped.

"Just leave him in one piece for me ok Owen. Don't break him" Alex laughed, patting Sean's arm.

"Try not to" he smiled. "I'll be right back with more food" Owen said as he left the table with both his and Keira's plates.

After breakfast they went for a tour around the facility. Their first stop was at medical where the doctor re-dressed some of Keira's wounds and made sure everything was ok. She also spoke to her about the tests that were done when she arrived.

"So I have some good news for you, all your tests came back fine. You are perfectly healthy" she told her with a smile "Well apart from these" she said, pointing to all her cuts and bruises. "Nothing a bit of time can't fix".

Keira let out a breath, that she hadn't even realised she had been holding in. It was such a relief to be given the all clear. It had been playing on her mind and now she could relax a little.

Their next stop was Ops, where he introduced Keira to Birkhoff and Sonya who he described as the brains of the operation. She found them both to be quite pleasant and genuine, although Birkhoff did seem a little highly strung and a little nerdy, but kind of funny too. She was starting to realise that these people weren't as bad as she thought they might be. She was actually beginning to like this place. He also introduced her to Ryan who Owen referred to as 'the big boss man'.

"It's nice to meet you Keira. You are welcome to stay here as long as you need. But uhh, is there anyone you would like us to contact for you? Do you have any family nearby?" Ryan asked.

Keira simply shook her head in response, and Ryan decided it best not to press the matter. They would find out more about her when she was ready to tell them.

Their last stop was the training room. Filled with gym equipment and sparring dummies, it seemed like a very strange place to her. There were a few people around lifting weights, running on treadmills. Then she saw two people she recognised, fighting in the corner. It was the slim, beautiful lady and the tall dark haired man from the truck.

Owen took her over to them so they could be properly introduced. "Keira, you remember Michael and Nikita" he said as he gestured to the couple who had just finished up a rather intense looking sparring match. She gave a small nod.

"Nice to see you up and around Keira" Nikita said with a smile. "Anything you need, don't be afraid to make Owen your slave" she laughed, which earned a small chuckle from Keira.

"It's good to meet you properly" Michael said as he came up beside Nikita and extended a hand for Keira to shake, not really thinking about the fact that she was probably terrified at the mere thought of any man touching her.

She looked scared at first and her eyes flicked over to Owen, who gave her a nod as if to say 'you can trust him, he's one of the good guys'. So slowly she reached out and lightly grasped Michaels hand and gave it a very quick shake before hastily retracting her hand and withdrawing into herself slightly.

The gesture didn't go unnoticed by both Michael and Nikita, but neither of them made a big deal out of it. They knew she had been through a lot, and it would take time for her to recover.

"We will leave you to it" Nikita told the pair. "Michael and I need to go over our next mission briefing. See you two later" she said as they both wandered off.

Keira stood there taking it all in, watching the people training. She admired their strength and skill. And then she remembered what Sean had said in the mess hall. He and Owen were going to have a rematch.

"Can I watch?" she asked him.

"Huh?" he replied, looking a little puzzled.

"Your fight, with Sean" she stated. "Can I watch you?"

"Oh that! Sure, of course" Owen replied. He looked down at his watch to see that it was nearly ten. "Sean should be here soon. I'm just gonna get changed ok. Take a look around. Explore" he said as he spread his arms wide, gesturing around the gym.

He returned shortly after, just as Sean and Alex entered the training room. They made their way over to the two of them and Alex stood by Keira as the boys started their macho trash talking.

"Oh you are in for a treat!" Alex exclaimed with a chuckled as she looked over at her.

Keira just smiled. For the first time in a long time, she smiled a proper smile, and it felt good.

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**As always, thank you for taking the time to read. Please drop me a review :) they are my fuel to keep writing. (Btw, I apologise for any errors. I don't always have the time to perfectly proof read my writing)**


	7. Chapter 6

**Sorry this chapter is slightly shorter than usual, but I felt that this was a good place to leave it before the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it.**

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The sparring match between Owen and Sean was quite a spectacular show of strength and athleticism. Because Keira was watching, Owen felt the need to show off a little. Sure she had seen him fight before, down in that basement he had killed a man right in front of her. But that was different, and he didn't want her to see him as a killer. He didn't want her to ever feel scared of him. He wanted her to see him as someone who could protect her from anyone and anything.

Both men were strong and agile, neither one of them holding much back. After suffering defeat in their last match, Sean definitely felt as though he had something to prove, and of course it helped having his girl watching.

The two women watched from the side line as the men danced around each other, throwing powerful kick – punch combinations. They were both using some form of mixed martial arts each with their own flare, and they were both quite skilful.

Keira found herself studying Owens every move, the way he threw a punch, the way he steadied himself after taking a hit. It was like she was committing it all to memory. She was fascinated with the speed and strength with which he moved. Sean was bigger than him, but he seemed to hold his own against the well trained seal more than adequately.

She watched on as Owen tackled Sean to the ground and they continued to wrestle on the floor, struggling with one another to gain the upper hand. With one swift manoeuvre Owen had spun himself around Sean and pinned him to the floor. Keira couldn't help but admire the way the muscles in his arms and legs moved as he fought. The way his tight white tank top clung to his sweaty body in all the right places, showing off the muscles on his back and chest. He was well built and excellent muscle definition.

"It's quite something to watch huh" Alex said, looking over at Keira.

"Mhhmm" she replied in somewhat of a daze as she continued to stare at Owen, who appeared to be winning the fight.

"Oh… my… god!" Alex exclaimed in a rather loud whisper, snapping her out of her little day dream. "You are totally checking him out!"

"What!?... I uh…" Keira stuttered, her face turning a bright shade of red as she looked nervously at Alex.

"Owen! You were checking him out! Fess up" Alex laughed. " It's ok. He's totally hot! Don't worry your secret is safe with me" she smiled as she gently touched her arm. For the first time in a long time, she didn't flinch at the contact. Very slowly she was starting to let her guard down, starting to trust people. She liked Alex, she seemed so genuine. When she looked at her it was like she understood what she was going through.

She let out a small laugh and returned the smile before turning back to catch the last few seconds of the fight. In which Owen had Sean pinned to the floor in what looked to be a very uncomfortable and painful hold when finally Sean tapped the mat and gave in.

"Yes!" Owen cried out in victory. He looked over to Keira to see her smiling at him. He broke out into a huge grin, his first real smile of happiness in what felt like a very long time. He hadn't felt like he had much to smile about after Emily, but he found as he tried to help Keira heal from what she had been through, she was helping to heal him too.

The two men congratulated each other on the fight and had a few laughs together before joining the women. Alex gave Sean an 'I'm sorry you lost' hug and said "You did me proud babe… but ewww you totally need a shower"

"When I don't feel quite so broken, I want another rematch" Sean laughed as he and Alex headed toward the changing rooms.

"Hahaha, sure thing. Just don't cry when I kick your ass again" Owen joked. He turned to Keira and said "I should take a quick shower too, I'm kinda gross" he laughed as he wiped his face with a towel. "You can wait here, or go exploring the facility some more, whatever you want".

"I'll just wait here" she replied.

"Alright, I won't be long" he said as he jogged off to the changing room.

Owen returned a short while later to find Keira sitting on the edge of one of the weight benches. She looked very deep in thought. He cleared his throat as he approached so he didn't startle her.

"Better?" she asked looking up at him.

"Much better. Shall we go get some lunch? I really worked up an apetite"

"Ok" she replied as she got up to follow him, but halfway across the room she stopped as she saw a couple of recruits sparring. She watched them closely. They were pretty good, but nothing like Owen.

He looked back to find her stopped a few metres behind him. He wandered back over to her, "Hey, you ok?" he asked.

She stayed silent for a moment. Internally debating whether or not she wanted to ask him what she was thinking. After a while she bit the bullet so to speak and asked "Will you teach me?"

"Teach you to fight?"

"Yeah, can you teach me to fight? Teach me to defend myself. Owen… I… I…I don't… I don't" she stuttered before letting out a sigh of frustration and looked down at her hands that she was rubbing together in a nervous kind of way.

"Hey, it's alright. It's just me. Relax, take a deep breath" he said as he took a couple of deep breaths with her. "That's good, ok what were you going to say?"

"I don't ever want to be a victim again. I… I don't ever want to be hurt like that again. I don't want to feel the things that I am now, I don't want to be scared" she told him, tears forming in her eyes threatening to spill over.

Owen carefully approached her and placed both hands gently on her shoulders. He dipped his head slightly to look into her eyes. "Keira. I promise you that I will never let anyone hurt you. Never ok. I will protect you no matter what. And if it's what you want, I will teach you how to fight. As soon as the doctor gives you the all clear and you are ready, I will teach you".

"Thank you" she whispered as a tear slipped down her cheek. He moved a hand from her shoulder and wiped the tear away with his thumb. Slowly she leaned into his chest and let out a deep breath. It wasn't easy for her to ask for help.

He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her, rubbing circles on her back as he felt the rise and fall of her chest against his own. "Whatever you need. I'm here"

They stayed together like that for a few moment while she regained her composure. When they parted she gave him a small smile.

"You good?" he asked.

"I'm good"

"How about some food then huh?"

"Lead the way" she replied.

Owen was glad that she was starting to come out of her shell a little bit now. It felt good that she was willing to trust him and open up to him. He knew it couldn't have been easy for her to ask for help after what she had been through. But he was pleased that he was the one she could talk to.

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**Thanks for reading. Please leave me a review. Let me know what you think. This chapter included a slight shift in the growing relationship between Owen and Keira which will be explored further in later chapters.**


	8. Chapter 7

**I hope you enjoy this chapter. I wont be updating this story for a week or so, I'm going on a family holiday :) But don't worry, I will be back to this. I'm enjoying this writing this story too much to forget about it!**

Later that night Keira was perched on the bed in her recruit room, scribbling with a pencil on a sketch pad, when there was a soft knock on her door. She looked up as the door opened slightly and Owen appeared.

"Mind if I come in?" he asked with a sweet smile.

She motioned for him to enter as she flipped the cover over the sketch pad before he was close enough to see what she had been working on. Owen sat down on the bed next to her and looked curiously at the small bunch of art supplies in her lap.

"You draw?" he questioned, somewhat surprised. He wasn't exactly sure why it surprised him, I mean it's not like he knew very much about her at this stage.

"A little" she replied shyly as she fiddled with the pencil between her fingers.

"Can I see?" he asked. "I mean, only if you want to show me. You don't have to. I will totally understand".

She pondered it for a while as she continued to play with the pencil she was holding. Her artwork had always been somewhat private to her. It was kind of her way of dealing with things that were going on. Ever since she was a child she would shut herself away for hours and just get her feelings out by drawing. Like most people, she was her own worst critic. She never felt like her work was anything great and she had never really shown much of it to anyone.

"Ok" she agreed a little reluctantly as she handed over the sketch pad. It was something that Alex had brought in for her after she had asked if there was anything she wanted earlier that day. And already she had filled half a dozen pages with some rough sketches as well as a few detailed ones.

Owen smiled in response as he took the pad from her, making sure she knew he appreciated the fact that she was sharing this with him. He lifted back the cover to the first page where there was a rough sketch of a woman strung up from the ceiling, with two dark figures standing over her. It made him cringe a little and he felt a wave of anger flood him as he remembered seeing her that way. But he understood why she had drawn the image. It was probably the darkest period of her life, and this was her way of trying to deal with it.

He looked over at her to see her head bowed, as though she was ashamed of the image. Ashamed that it had happened to her. "Hey, it's ok" he told her as he reached out and gently squeezed her hand reassuringly.

He continued his way through the sketch pad. On the next page was a crude drawing of a man carrying the limp body of a woman out of the darkness and into the sunlight. There wasn't a lot of definition in the drawing, you could barely make out faces but Owen knew that this was a sketch of the day he rescued Keira. He smiled at how she had drawn it, the way the sunlight beamed down on them almost made it look like he had an angel's halo. He wondered for a moment if that was how she saw him. Her guardian angel? In the back of his mind it was kind of what he wished to be for her. But he quickly pushed the thought aside, dismissing it as stupid.

"This is really good" he said, examining the drawing.

She smiled shyly and ducked her head, watching as he continued onto the next page. On this page was a series of small sketches of people. These ones were much more defined and showed great skill. He could see that they were the members of the team. There was one of Nikita and Michael standing together, and Ryan on his own hunched over a desk near the bottom of the page. On the following page was Alex and Sean, sitting together and smiling, just like they had been that morning at breakfast. The other half of the page was taken up by a drawing of Birkhoff and Sonya, surrounded by an arsenal of computers.

"Wow! Keira, these are amazing!" He exclaimed. "They are so detailed, do you have a photographic memory or something? It's like looking at a snapshot"

"I guess" she replied. "I just have a thing for details. When I see something I take it all in and commit it to memory".

"Well, I think these are incredible" he smiled. Keira couldn't help but smile from his comments.

Owen turned to the next page to find an extremely detailed drawing. He was a little taken aback to find that this one was of himself. If he didn't know any better he would think he was looking at a black and white photograph. The drawing was from the waist up. He was wearing a white tank top, and was covered in a light sheen of sweat. He had a huge smile on his face. It must have been from the sparring match from Sean that morning, just after he won, he thought. He remembered back to that moment of triumph when he had looked over to Keira to see her smiling at him. Her smile was infectious, and every time he saw it he couldn't help but smile too. He studied every inch of the drawing and it was just perfect, she had captured every detail, even his tattoos.

"Wow" was all he could say. He was left speechless.

"You don't mind?" she asked. "That I drew you, I mean".

"Not at all. I mean it is a little strange to see a drawing of myself. But this is just incredible. You are so talented Keira"

He turned to the last occupied page to find an intricate drawing of a bird. It looked very majestic. It was coloured shades of red and orange and it was beautiful.

"What's this?" Owen asked.

"It's a Phoenix rising from the ashes. It represents starting fresh. A new life" she told him. "I want to get it as a tattoo one day".

"Really? That's awesome". To say Owen had a thing for tattoos would be a bit of an understatement. Half of his chest was covered in them, and of course she had seen them. And a tattoo on a girl had always been a bit of a weakness of his. "Maybe I can take you to the place I get mine done one day" he told her as he handed her the sketch pad back.

"I'd like that" she smiled, taking it back from him and setting it down on the cabinet beside the bed. "Owen. Can I… can I see yours" she asked.

"My tatts?"

"Yeah, if that's ok" she said nervously.

"Sure" he replied. Standing up he removed his shirt and stood there in front of her. Slowly she rose to her feet, moving closer so she was standing just a few inches away from him. She studied the ink on his skin intently. Keira had always been fascinated with tattoos, and for a long time had wanted to get one. She was just waiting for the right time, the right image.

She reached up with a slightly shaky hand and began to trace her fingers up the dragon on his right arm. Her fingers continued their path up and across his muscled chest. Slowly she made her way over to the other side, admiring each tattoo as she went. Eventually she came to a stop at the end of the last tattoo on his left arm, where her hand lingered for a moment as she looked up at Owen. He was staring down at her, just watching the way her fingers danced along his skin, leaving a trail of goose bumps in their wake.

As their eyes met there was a little tension in the air, it was as if time had slowed down. All that Keira could hear was the sound of each breath and the rapid beating of her heart pounding against her chest, which seemed so deafeningly loud. She wondered if maybe it was just her, or if he was feeling the same things she was.

It was then that she decided to do something a little bold and step right out of her comfort zone. She took her right hand and gently placed it on his chest, directly over his heart. Her eyes flickered back to his and he looked a little puzzled, but he went with it.

Slowly she closed her eyes and focused on feeling the beat of his heart beneath her hand, only to find it was beating just as fast as hers was. She looked back up at Owen, her green eyes connecting with his blue ones. He gave her a smile that made her heart skip a beat, and she couldn't help but smile too. Keira could swear that she felt his heartbeat speed up a little at that.

Suddenly she felt intense butterflies in her stomach and started to get very nervous. She withdrew her hand and took a step back, taking a deep breath in an attempt to slow down the rapid beating of her heart.

"You ok?" Owen questioned.

"I'm ok. I just got a… a little nervous is all"

"You know you never have to be nervous around me"

"I know. It's kind of a reflex. I've always been… well shy I guess" she told him. "You have goose bumps" she stated looking back at his chest, wondering if he was feeling cold without a shirt.

Owen was unsure how to respond to her statement without sounding like a complete dick. "It's ummm… I haven't been touched like that in a while" he said softly, a little embarrassed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable" she apologised, backing away a little.

"Oh no, you didn't make me uncomfortable. It's ok" he said reassuringly.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure" he said with a smile. Afraid if they lingered on this topic too long he would scare her off he asked "Do you wanna go get some dinner?", hoping a change of subject and scenery might help with her nerves.

"Yeah, I'm starving. But uhhh… you might want to put your shirt back on before we go out there" she chuckled.

"Good point" Owen laughed as he grabbed his shirt and threw it back on. "Let's go".

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**I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the few sparks that were flying in it :) Please take the time to leave me a review. Let me know what you think and any suggestions for future chapters are appreciated. Thanks :)**


	9. Chapter 8

**If you are still reading this story, thank you! I hope you enjoy this chapter! I have a lot of ideas in store for future chapters.**

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A few days had passed by and Owen and Keira were growing closer. He had gained her trust as he had proven time and time again that he would always be there for her and would always protect her. Whenever she had nightmares he would rush in to comfort her no matter what time of night it was.

He had told her about division, how it started out, and what it was now. Reluctantly he told her about the things he had been made to do, he wanted her to know, even if it would scare her away. It was a part of who he was, even if he didn't like that part of himself, she needed to know. Keira understood, she knew what it was like to be made to do things you didn't want to do. Not once did she look at him with judgement or disapproval. All he saw in her eyes was understanding and acceptance.

She was yet to put her trust in anyone else and was still very shy and reserved around the rest of the team as well as the other agents and recruits. The only person she was at ease with was Owen, but she seemed to be coming out of her shell a little with Alex.

That morning Owen was summoned to the briefing room where the others were already waiting. "We have some new intel" Ryan said as he addressed everyone. "Owen we are going to need you on this one" he said as he looked over toward him.

"Is that really a good idea?" he questioned. "I thought we all agreed I would stick around here for a while. I don't think I should be leaving Keira yet, not when she is just starting to get comfortable and opening up".

"I know the timing is not the best, but trust me you will want to be on this op. The intel is on Brandt. We have his location" Ryan told him.

"Well that's great. Let's bring the son of a bitch in then" Nikita spoke up.

"Yeah, or kill him" Owen countered angrily.

"This is not a kill mission. We don't do that anymore. Our orders are to bring the dirty thirty in, not kill them. We need to prove to the President that we can clean this mess up".

Everyone could see that Owen was not pleased with that idea, and they understood why. He and Keira had become quite close, it was clear that they had a connection. Of course he would be taking this personally. He would kill anyone that hurt her.

"Ryan I know this is a new division, but Brandt is very dangerous and he is not going down without a fight. Things happen quickly in the field and you have a split second to make a choice that could mean life or death. If it goes that way, we will have to take him out, you know that don't you" Michael told him. It's not that he agreed with Owen just killing the man in cold blood. But he knew that bringing him in alive was not going to be easy. Brandt was the kind of guy that would go down in a blaze of gunfire rather than be captured. They would probably have no choice but to kill him. Considering the things the man had done since going rogue, Michael could accept that.

"I'm saying, use necessary force. Capture if possible and kill only if absolutely necessary. Does everyone understand?" he asked, directing the question towards Owen.

Everyone nodded in agreement. "Now that we have that settled, everyone get yourselves sorted and grab your gear. Wheels up in one hour. Alex I want you back here in Ops to help Ryan run the operation. Nikita, Sean, Owen and myself will be on the ground with a back up team" Michael explained. Once all instructions had been given the team dispersed to prepare for the mission.

On the way out Owen caught up to Alex. "Hey, can you do me a favour? Can you keep an eye on Keira for me?" he asked. "You seem to be the only other person she seems comfortable around" he added.

"Of course. You headed to see her now? How do you think she will take you leaving?"

"I don't know. I'm hoping that the fact that it is to get Brandt might make her feel better about it. But she is still recovering and isn't ready to trust anyone else yet. I feel bad leaving, and I don't want to lose the trust that I have built with her" Owen told her.

"It sucks I know. But I'm sure that you want to be the one to get this bastard. And I think for her, knowing that he isn't still out there, that will help. Trust me" Alex reassured him.

"Thanks Alex, I'll catch up with you later" he said as he left and headed for Keira's room.

Owen knocked on her door and waited. When he heard her call out in reply he opened the door and stepped inside just a little as he said "It's just me".

"I know" she laughed in reply, and he gave her a questioning look. "I recognised your knock" she told him.

"Didn't realise I had a 'knock'" he laughed.

"It's more the sound, than the actual knock"

"You really are one for the small details aren't you" he smiled. "You got a minute, I need to talk to you about something" he said a little nervously as he approached her bed and sat down next to her.

"Sure" she replied looking a little worried.

"I know it's really bad timing, but I have to go on a mission. It should only take a day or two"

He could see the sadness and worry in her face as soon as the words left his mouth. It pained him to know that his leaving was upsetting her.

"You know I wouldn't leave if I absolutely had to" he explained and she nodded in reply looking down at her hands.

"We found him" he stated simply.

Keira looked up at him with a questioning look. "We found Brandt" he confirmed. At the mentioned of his name she looked terrified. "I promised you that I would never let anyone hurt you, and I will keep that promise. We are going to take that bastard down, and he won't hurt you or anyone else again. I have to be on this mission. I have to do this. For you"

She sat quietly for a moment, processing the information he had just given her. She was pleased that they had found him, but at the same time she was worried. Worried about being by herself in division, but even more so she was worried for Owen. Brandt was a sadistic bastard and she knew exactly what he was capable of. The last thing she wanted was for something to happen to Owen.

The whole situation made her feel very emotional and somewhat fragile. She felt like Owen was the only person in her life who cared about her and she couldn't cope with losing him. He had saved her from the nightmare she was in. Overcome with emotion she hugged him and held on tight, silent tears slipping down her cheeks. "Be careful" she whispered.

"I will, I promise" he said as he wrapped his arms around her. "I will be back as soon as I can okay".

Slowly she withdrew and looked up at him. His face was serious but soft and she could tell that he meant every word he said. Owen reached up and wiped the tears from her cheeks and gave her a small smile.

"Alex will be around if you need anything, and she will be able to contact me if you need me okay"

Keira nodded in reply as she reached out and grabbed her sketch pad. "I have something for you" she said as she pulled a page out and handed it to him.

On the piece of paper was a very detailed black and white drawing of a muscular man. He was crouched down, his head bowed and his face hidden behind his forearms. There were feathered wings protruding from his back, partially wrapping around the front of his body, as if they were shielding him.

"Wow" Owen exclaimed as he examined the beautiful piece of artwork.

"Not that you can really tell but… it's you" she told him.

"Really?" he asked, completely blown away.

"I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for you. Until Brandt, I had always believed that everything happened for a reason. But when I had to endure things so horrible, I kind of lost that belief. I couldn't understand what reason could ever justify what I had to go through, and I still don't. What I do know is that you saved me and I think that some strange twisted fate brought you there because it was what you needed too. I can see in your eyes that you have known pain, and in saving me, somehow you had saved yourself too. You are my guardian angel Owen" she explained.

He didn't know what to say, no words could even come close to what he felt at that very moment. All that he could say was "Thank you" as he wrapped his arms around her again and held her tight. This woman was breaking down his walls as much as he was breaking down hers. Owen was feeling things he never thought he would feel again. The more time he spent with her the more she was capturing his heart.

"I have to go" he whispered, though he wished he didn't have to leave. He let her go and placed his hands on her shoulders. "If you need anything, make sure you see Alex okay. And if you need me, you get her to call"

"I will. Be safe Owen" she said as she gave him a smile.

"I'll see you soon" he said as he gave her shoulder a small squeeze and turned to leave.

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**Please take the time to leave me a review, let me know what you thought :) Keep an eye out for the next chapter!**


	10. Chapter 9

**I have been on a roll with this story so here is the next chapter :) Hope you enjoy it. Hopefully I will have the next one up in a day or two.**

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Owen had only been gone for a day and Keira was already feeling very anxious. She had spent most of her time in her room sketching and had eaten her meals in the mess with Alex. This particular morning she had decided to go to the mess hall by herself as Alex was busy running the mission with Ryan up in Ops.

She was sitting quietly at a table by herself eating her breakfast when a guy in recruit sweats sat down opposite her. Glancing up from her plate she recognised him as the guy that was mouthing off the first time she came to the mess hall with Owen. Immediately she felt scared and threatened. She quickly glanced around the room for a familiar face but couldn't find one.

"How are you enjoying division recruit?" he asked with a smirk.

Keira felt like just ignoring him but decided to speak up instead. "I'm not a recruit" she said quietly.

"Oh really? Could have fooled me" he laughed. "Where's _Owen_? Isn't he usually following you around like some love sick puppy?"

The way he said Owens name really pissed her off, but she remained calm and continued to eat her toast silently. She knew that he was just trying to get a reaction and she wasn't going to take the bait.

"If you ask me, you are way out of his league anyway" he told her as he looked her over, it made her sick.

That was the last straw for Keira. She couldn't sit there and listen to the douchebag mouth off about Owen. She dropped the last of her toast back down on her plate and got up from the table. She walked past him without saying another word. Just when she thought she was free of him she felt a hand grab her wrist and she panicked as she was pulled back around and came face to face with the recruit.

"You know you are perfect division material. Pretty and damaged. Just the way they like them" he laughed.

"Let me go" she said quietly as she tried to tug her hand free.

"Why don't you show me what you got girl? You must have some strength in there. Some fire huh" he said as he gripped her wrist tighter.

Keira only started to panic more. She felt like she was back in that basement, being restrained and taunted. "Let go" she cried, more panicked now.

"Why don't you make me? C'mon I know you got some fight in you, why else would they keep you around" he sneered.

People were starting to stare and she could feel everyone's eyes on them. Her breathing was rapid and her heart was pounding in her chest. She needed to get out of there. She tried to pull her arm away, struggling against the strength of the guy. Keira felt trapped and she couldn't stop the tears that started to well up in her eyes.

"Finn! What are you doing?" Sonya called out from across the room where she had just entered the mess hall.

"Chill Sonya, I'm just making friends" he replied as he pulled Keira close and put his arm around her. That only scared her even more and she snapped responding by striking him really hard in the chest with her elbow, followed by a hard kick in his shins and she ran as fast as she could. As she sprinted from the room she could hear Sonya calling after her but the last thing she wanted to do was stop. She wanted to get to her room, her safe place. She wanted to hide away.

She tore through the facility until she made it back to her room where she slammed her door and locked it behind her, barricading it with her desk chair for good measure. Keira walked quickly across the room and curled up in the corner and tried hard to control her breathing.

A few minutes later she heard footsteps in the hallway followed by a knock at the door. "Keira, are you ok?" Sonya called out from the other side as she tried the door handle. "Keira?" she called again, but she gave no reply. She stayed in the corner, her arms wrapped tightly around her legs. After a while she heard Sonya's footsteps again and they slowly faded away.

Alex was in Ops with Ryan and Birkhoff as they were giving instructions over comms to the guys on the ground. Sonya came rushing in all flustered and everyone looked around at her. "Alex, we have a problem" she told her.

"We're in the middle of the Op Sonya, can it wait?"

"It's Keira"

"Wait, what about Keira" came Owen's voice over the comms.

"Shit" Alex cursed quietly. "It's nothing Owen, complete your objective I've got this handled" she replied. "Ryan have you got this?" she asked as she turned off her comm unit.

"Yeah, you go" he said as he turned back to the screen and continued to direct the operation while trying to tell Owen not to worry and focus on the mission.

"What happened?" Alex asked Sonya as they quickly made their way to the recruit rooms where she was staying.

"I'm not entirely sure. I walked into the mess hall and saw that Finn had her by the wrist and was trying to provoke some sort of reaction from her. He obviously had her panicked, she looked scared as hell. I yelled out to him and asked what was going on and that when he told me he was making friends and pulled her close putting his arm around her. It totally freaked her out and she elbowed him and then kicked him until he let her go then she ran" Sonya explained. "I followed her to her room and she has locked herself in and won't answer me. I'm really worried".

"Finn, that stupid son of a bitch! I warned him" she growled.

"What should we do?"

"We just need to know if she is ok. It doesn't matter if she doesn't want to come out at this stage. I don't blame her. She has been through a lot and this is the last thing she needs" Alex said as they rounded the corner approaching Keira's door.

"Keira? It's Alex, are you ok?" she called out as she knocked on the door.

She was met with nothing but silence, so she tried again. "Keira? Talk to me please. Are you alright?"

On the other side of the door, Keira was still struggling to calm herself down. She was terrified. What would they do to her? She had just hit one of the division recruits. Sure he had grabbed her first, but would they understand? She felt like she was having a panic attack, all she wanted was to see Owen.

"Keira, are you hurt?" Alex asked. She waited a while and heard a faint 'no' come from the other side of the door.

Alex and Sonya looked at one another. "Thank god" Sonya whispered.

"Are you ok?" she tried again, and received another quiet 'no' in reply.

"Can you let me in? I want to help you" Alex called out, but was met with nothing but silence. "Shit" she cursed quietly. "There's no way she is going to trust anyone but Owen" she told Sonya.

Alex and Sonya headed back towards Ops. "Sonya, can you have someone put Finn in one of the holding rooms until we get this figured out" Alex requested. "We don't need him causing any more problems"

"Sure" she replied as she went off to find one of the other senior Agents.

"Ryan, where are we with the mission?" Alex asked as she entered operations.

"We have three agents wounded and Brandt in custody, all though by the sounds of it he is a little roughed up" Ryan replied.

"Owen?"

"Yup" Birkhoff replied. "Sounds like Mikey had to pull him off the guy".

"Are the comms still on?" she asked.

"Yeah, why is everything ok?" Ryan asked.

"Not really. One of the recruits attacked Keira. She is terrified and locked herself in her room. She won't let in and would barely speak to me. We need Owen" she told them.

"Owen, are you there?" Alex spoke through the comm unit.

"Alex. What the hell is going on with Keira!?" he practically yelled back.

"Calm down. There was a situation. It's under control now, but we need you to get back here asap"

"What do you mean a _situation_?"

"It was Finn. Look I will fill you in when you get here ok. Just hurry up" she stressed.

"We are at the transport plane in Colombia now" Michael said over his comms. "We will be touching down back home in a little over five hours"

"Ok see you guys soon" she replied and cut the communications before she could get another lecture from Owen.

Locked up in her room Keira felt like the time was dragging on. Alex kept coming down to check on her, but she didn't feel like speaking to anyone. She stayed in her corner where she had dragged her blanket and was drawing away on her sketch pad. Sonya had come by earlier and tried to talk to her, telling her that Owen was on his way back. So she just waited, curled up in Owens shirt that she still hadn't given back to him. It still smelled of him, and it made her feel a little calmer and safer somehow.

She couldn't stop running the events of the morning through her mind. To feel that vulnerable and terrified again made her feel weak and angry. She had been starting to get used to division, even started to like being there. Now all she felt was scared and alone. There was no stopping the tears that fell from her eyes, so she didn't even try. She just lay there and cried until she fell asleep.

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**As always please take the time to review :) and I apologise for any errors.**


	11. Chapter 10

**Thanks again to anyone who is continuing to read this story, your support is much appreciated!**

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Keira woke to the faint sound of someone calling her name. It sounded very far away and she couldn't tell who it was. As her sleepiness cleared she could hear the voice growing louder. She balled herself up tightly in her blanket, afraid that it was Finn coming after her. As the voice grew even louder she could hear that it was accompanied by quick footsteps as well as a female voice. They were out in the hall and she could make out more of what they were saying and who they were. It was Owen, he was back. A sense of relief washed over her.

"Keira" she heard him call out again.

"Owen just calm down, please" came Alex's voice.

"Not until I know she is ok. I never should have left!" Owen yelled.

There was a somewhat impatient knock at her door and she knew that it was Owen. The door handle rattled as he tried to open it. "Keira? It's Owen. Are you ok?" he called out from the other side. Knowing that there were others out there with him she was afraid to respond. She wanted nothing more than to see him, but she didn't want their judgement about what had happened.

"Keira, please let me in".

"Owen. You really should be up in medical. You're bleeding all over the floor" Alex said.

Panic washed over Keira as she realised Owen was hurt. The whole time he was gone she was worried something bad would happen to him. Fresh tears welled up in her eyes at the thought of Owen in pain because of Brandt.

"I don't care, it can wait. I need to know she is ok".

"Alex, let's just leave him be" came the voice of Nikita, and with that she could hear their footsteps disappear down the hallway. She heard a small thud against the door and assumed Owen was leaning against it. She hoped he wasn't too badly injured.

"Keira… I'm alone now. Can you open the door please?" he asked desperately.

Slowly she got up from her spot in the corner and made her way to the door. Removing the chair from beneath the handle she unlocked it, taking a step back. From the other side Owen could hear the click of the lock and relieved he let out a breath he didn't realise he had been holding in.

Slowly he turned the handle and opened the door peering inside to see Keira standing there looking very terrified and upset. It broke his heart. He slipped into the room and shut the door behind him, locking it so she could feel safe knowing nobody else was going to come in.

"Are you ok?" he whispered, wondering whether he should approach her or wait for her to come to him. He didn't know how far the incident might have set things back. Whether the fact that he wasn't there for her had broken their trust.

She shook her head in response as tears rolled down her face, her arms wrapped tightly around herself. Seeing her that way hurt and he couldn't help the tears forming in his eyes. Carefully he approached her and he was glad when she didn't back away from him. "I am so sorry" he whispered as he came within inches of her and enveloped her in his strong arms. "I am so, so sorry. I wish I didn't leave".

Keira finally relaxed and just let her tears fall like rain. He held her tight, rubbing comforting circles on her back while she let it all out. He waited patiently for her breathing and heart rate to slow down before he spoke. "Do you want to tell me what happened?" Her head nodded in response against his chest.

"Come here, sit down" he said as he moved her towards the bed and sat her down, he nestled her into his side as he kept one arm wrapped securely around her.

She relaxed and took a deep breath before she started to tell him about it. "That guy from the other day, Finn. He was saying things, things about you. Things about me. He was trying to get a reaction from me. I… I tried to ignore him, I got up to walk away and he… he grabbed me" she told him.

"Did he hurt you?" Owen asked, a slight angry tone to his voice.

"A little" she replied as she held up her wrist where he had grabbed her. The faded bruises that were already there from Brandt were now aggravated and turned a darker shade again.

"That bastard" he growled. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. I promised you I would be and I let you down" he said with sadness in his eyes.

"It's ok. I understand why you had to leave… Owen, what's going to happen to me?" she asked, looking afraid.

"What do you mean?" Owen asked confused. "He attacked you. Nothing is going to happen to you".

"I hit him" she said. "When he grabbed me, I elbowed him, and kicked his leg until he let me go. I was so scared" she whimpered.

"That's my girl!" Owen said proudly, earning a small smile form her. "He deserved everything he got and more" he reassured her. "Trust me, nothing is going to happen to you. No one is mad. You defended yourself. Finn is the only one in the wrong here ok"

"Ok" she replied as she leaned into him. Owen shuffled to get more comfortable but winced in pain as he tried to move.

"Owen!" she exclaimed when she saw the blood starting to seep through his shirt. In her emotional state she had forgotten about the fact that he was hurt.

"Yeah, I should probably go to medical and get stitched up. I just had to make sure you were ok first" he smiled. "Will you come with me? Make sure I don't pass out on the way. Hold my hand while I get stitches and take me out for ice cream after" he joked, which made her giggle. The truth was he felt fine, but he didn't want to leave her side.

In the medical bay Owen removed his shirt and the crude field dressing from his torso to reveal a nasty looking knife slash just below his rib cage on his right side. Keira sat in the chair opposite him as he climbed on the bed to be cleaned and stitched up. She felt terrible that he had gotten hurt. The only reason he had gone on the mission in the first place was because he felt like he had to do it for her.

"Hey, it's ok. I've had a lot worse" he told her, seeing the worry on her face.

She sat quietly as she watched the doctor stitch him up. It was a long cut and required quite a few stitches. It would definitely leave a scar. After the doctor stressed to him to take it easy and not tear the stitches she left to tend to another one of the wounded agents. Keira got up from her chair and moved closer to Owen, sitting on the bed next to him and examining his wound, brushing her fingertips around the area. Just then Alex passed by the door and poked her head in "Hey Owen, what did I tell you about scars?" she said as she gave him a wink then turned to Keira and smiled before darting off down the hall.

Owen chuckled and shook his head at her remark. "What was that about?" Keira asked looking a little confused.

"A while back when I got injured, Alex told me that I was lucky that scars are sexy" he laughed.

Keira blushed a little and removed her hand from his body. "I think she was speaking for most girls on that" Keira said with a shy smile.

"Good to know" he grinned. "Guess I need a new shirt" he said as he held up the one he was wearing earlier. It was covered in blood and had a knife slash through it. Owen got up off the bed and tossed the shirt in the bin. "Care to escort me back to my room?" he asked, holding out an arm for her in a very gentlemanly fashion. Keira giggled and took his arm as they headed off. She felt so much better now that he was back. He had this way of making her calm and relaxed. She felt like she could really be herself around him.

"Speaking of shirts" he said as they wandered through the corridors. "Am I getting this one back any time soon?" he asked, pulling softly at the hem of his shirt that she was wearing again. It was a little big on her, but he still found it extremely cute to see her in it.

"Nope!" she laughed. "It's mine now". She didn't have the guts to tell him that she liked the fact that it still smelled like him, and it reminded her of the day he saved her.

When they got back to Owens room he found a new shirt and threw it on. Turning back to look at her, his face was a bit more serious. "We caught him" he told her.

She wasn't sure what she should say to that. Part of her wished he were dead, but the other part knew that it wouldn't solve anything. "Is he the one who…" she drifted off.

"Cut me? Yeah. I won't lie, for a minute back there I thought about killing him for what he did to you. But I knew that it wouldn't take away your pain, and then I remembered what you said about me being your guardian angel. And I knew that if I wanted to live up to that title I had to be the better man. But I also knew that I couldn't just let him get away with it"

"What did you do?"

"I roughed him up pretty good. Almost got a bit carried away but Michael stopped me. When I saw him, all I could see was all the cuts and bruises he had given you, and I wanted him to hurt twice as bad. Is that wrong? Am I a bad person for wanting to inflict that kind of pain on someone?"

"There were times when I thought about what I would do to him if I ever got the chance. It's only human to want revenge. To want to make people pay for the pain they cause. That is a lot easier than forgiveness. It doesn't make you a bad person Owen" she said with a reassuring smile.

Owen stepped forward and gently pulled her closer to him placing a sweet kiss on her forehead. "You always see the good in people" he whispered as he gave her a hug.

"It's really not hard, there are so many good things about you" she said as she returned his hug, feeling at home wrapped tightly in his arms. "Even if nobody else sees them, just know that I do".

"I think you bring out the best in me. You help me to be the kind of man that I always wanted to be" Owen smiled.

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**Please leave me a review and let me know what you think of this chapter and the story so far :)**


	12. Chapter 11

**Sorry for the delay on this chapter, I was away over Christmas. I hope you enjoy it and thank you to anyone who is still reading this.**

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A few days had passed since the incident with Finn, and Keira was back on the road to recovery. Day by day Owen was breaking down her walls and helping her to be the strong and confident woman he had seen glimpses of. After clearing it with the doctor he had arranged a surprise for her, he was taking her on a little road trip and he hoped she would be up for what he had in mind.

After they had breakfast together, Owen had to go sort a few things in Ops and let the team know that he was taking Keira off site for a while. Of course the both of them were free to come and go as they pleased, but at this stage they still didn't know anything about Keira's life before they had saved her so they wanted to keep a close eye on her.

He knocked on her door and entered to find her on her bed reading a magazine that Alex gave her. "Hey" he said. "You up for a road trip?"

She looked up at him with a glimmer of excitement in her eyes. "A road trip? Where to?"

"It's a surprise… do you trust me?"

"I trust you" she smiled.

"Good" he grinned. "Grab anything you need and let's go".

As they drove to the city with the window down, Keira was enjoying the fresh air and taking in all the sights. The wide open spaces made her feel so free. Owen kept glancing at her, relishing in the smile that seemed to be permanently plastered on her face.

"This is one of my favourite places" Owen told her as they pulled up outside a small shop with artwork hanging up in all the windows. "This is where I've had each of my tattoos done" he told her. "So what do you think? Is today the day?" he asked as he held up two pieces of paper. One was her drawing of the phoenix, she never even saw him take it from her sketch pad. She took it from his hands to reveal the one in behind. It was the drawing she had given him, her guardian angel.

"Are you…?" she trailed off.

"I would like to get this done on my back, if that's ok with you?" he asked.

"Owen… I… I'm flattered" she smiled. "I'm more than ok with it"

He smiled with excitement. "How about you?" he asked, pointing at the phoenix. "Are you ready for this?"

"I'm ready. I think now is the right time that I have been waiting for" she smiled.

Keira and Owen sat side by side in the tattooist's chairs, each with their backs exposed ready to be inked. Of course Owen had done this many times before and knew exactly what to expect. But Keira was a little nervous to say the least. She liked to think she had a high tolerance for pain after what she had been through, but she knew that the pain of a tattoo was like no other.

Keira's tattoo was going to be situated between her shoulder blades and spanned roughly ten inches long by five inches wide, taking roughly eight hours to complete. Owens on the other hand was going to cover most of his back with the lowest point starting just above where his pants sat, and would take at least twenty hours to complete. Because he already had a number of tattoos his pain tolerance was quite high so he could handle longer sessions.

After discussing it with the tattoo artists they decided for the first session they would go until it became too painful and then work out how many more sessions they would each need. As the tattooing began, Owen held out has hand for Keira to hold hoping that it would help with the pain. He was surprised that she didn't even flinch when the needle touched her skin, but then again he knew how tough she was.

To keep her mind off it Owen asked her all sorts of questions to find out more about her. He asked anything from her favourite colour to her taste in music and what her favourite movies were. Where she was born, He also found out when her birthday was, and stored that important piece of information for later. For someone that was only 25 she was very intelligent and mature.

Before they knew it three hours had passed and now Keira was starting to really feel it. Up until then she had just felt a little pain and discomfort. To distract her for the last part of her session Owen asked her some more questions and hoped to find out a bit more about her current situation. "Do you have any family nearby?"

"My parents died in a car accident when I was thirteen… a drunk driver pushed them into oncoming traffic when he failed to stop at the lights. I was an only child, and so were both my parents… so I don't have anyone" she told him.

"I'm so sorry Keira... What happened to you after that?"

"I was bounced around a few foster homes for a while. Some were ok, and some were… pretty bad. Eventually at sixteen I just went out on my own. Got part time jobs where I could and stayed various places, rented rooms, friend's couches things like that".

"That's pretty rough" Owen replied.

"It wasn't easy but I got by" she told him.

"So how did you end up with Brandt?" he questioned, hoping he wasn't pushing it too far.

She hesitated for a moment, her eyes travelling toward the artists currently working on their tattoos. She trusted Owen, but she was worried about what they would think.

"Don't worry about these guys, they're cool" he reassured her. He knew when they were in the zone they often didn't take notice of anything being said around them. And even if they did, they weren't the judgemental type.

"I had decided to travel here from South Carolina where I grew up. I needed a change of scenery after everything that happened with my parents. I didn't want the constant reminder. So I sold up everything that I had and got a plane ticket" she told him. "I was here for a few days when I was grabbed outside of my motel room. Next thing I knew, that's where I was" she said, recalling the life changing moment.

"Holy shit" Owen replied. "I'm so sorry that happened to you".

"I'm coming to terms with it. Everything happens for a reason right?" she smiled. "If it never happened, we wouldn't be here right now".

"I love the way you look at things" Owen told her with a smile.

At the four hour mark Keira called it quits on her tattoo for the day. She was very pleased with how long she lasted and she was half way there. Owen was continuing on for another couple of hours so he gave Keira some money to go across the street to get them some take out from the Thai place.

They sat together eating as they talked some more while the artist continued on Owens tattoo. When the time was up they arranged their next sessions and Owen paid them for their work. They agreed that they wouldn't look at their own tattoos until they were complete. Of course they would have to see each other's to apply after care cream.

Owen drove her around the city for a while and showed her some of the sights, he loved the way she seemed in awe of everything. It was as though her time being held captive had only heightened her ability to see everything around her and absorb it all. He understood how being free changed the way you saw the world. It gave you a whole new appreciation for the little things. Like the sun on your face, the feel of the wind, the smell of the outdoors. That was part of the reason why he had arranged another surprise for her that day.

He pulled up outside a small shop and turned to her and said "I just have to see someone real quick. I'll only be a minute". With that he disappeared inside and emerged a few minutes later with what appeared to be a box covered in a blanket. Her curiosity peaked. He stowed it in the back and climbed back into his seat. She gave him a questioning look but he just gave her smile in return not giving anything away. They started heading back towards division, but a few miles out Owen pulled off onto a dirt road.

"Where are we going?" Keira asked after a few minutes, realising that it wasn't the way back to division.

"You will see soon" he replied. "Close your eyes". She looked at him a little confused, but followed his instructions. "No peeking" he added. She felt the car come to a stop and listened as Owen got out and started rustling around in the back seat. "You're not sneaking a look are you?" he asked with a chuckle.

"I'm not, I promise" she laughed in reply.

"Good, ok just give me a minute, I will come get you soon".

"Ok" she giggled nervously in reply, wondering what on earth he was up to. A few moments later she heard the passenger door open and Owen said "Pass me your hand… but keep your eyes closed". Keira did as she was told as he guided her out of the car and walked with her for a minute before coming to a stop.

"You can open your eyes now" he whispered still holding on to her.

Slowly she opened them to see they were on top of a hill in a clearing of trees with a perfect view of the evening sky, it was beautiful. She looked down to see the blanket he had earlier, a picnic basket resting on top. She was completely blown away. "Wow… Owen" she whispered, unable to find any other words. No one had ever done anything like that for her before.

"I thought it was about time someone treated you the way you deserve to be treated" he told her with a smile as he turned to look her in the eyes so that she knew how much he meant it.

Just when she thought he couldn't possibly be any more amazing, he reveals a whole new level of himself to her. Keira was starting to fall for him in a really big way, and little did she know she had already completely captured his heart. Still grasping his hand lightly she stepped closer to him, raising her other hand to gently caress his face before leaning in on the tips of her toes to plant a sweet and gentle kiss on his cheek. Owen couldn't hide the huge grin that spread across his face and that only made Keira smile even bigger too.

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**Please leave me a review and let me know what you think it is much appreciated!**


	13. Chapter 12

**Thank you to anyone who is still reading this story it means a lot. I hope you enjoy this chapter. And I am really excited for the next one!**

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Two weeks later Owen and Keira were back at the tattoo studio for another session. For Owen it was his third as he had an extra session since their first one. Because his was going to take a lot longer than Keira's, and he wanted them finished at the same time. Keira went for two and a half hours, leaving a remaining hour and a half to two hours to complete the tattoo. Owen stuck to his usual five hours, leaving one more five hour session to complete his.

When they were finished at the studio they headed back to division. Earlier that morning the doctor had finally given Keira the all clear to start training with Owen. She was extremely excited but she was really nervous too. The last thing she wanted was to make a fool of herself.

They both headed to get changed and met in the gym a few minutes later. The sight of Keira in a tight white tank top had Owen just about tripping over himself. Of course he had seen her body before, when they had first met, but things were different now. For weeks now they had been doing this little dance together, denying their feelings. Each of them would always make an excuse to see the other, there was always some sort of reason to stand very close, to hold hands or hug. They couldn't get enough of one another without actually crossing that line. Everyone around them could see that they were meant to be together, but for whatever reason they were both hiding from it.

Owen began the training by showing Keira a few kick boxing type moves. Using the strike pads, he taught her a few different ways to kick an opponent as well as the correct way to throw a punch so you don't injure your hand. He was very impressed at how quickly she picked things up. She had been watching him train with Sean for a few weeks now so he guessed that had helped.

When she had nailed those few moves he moved her on to some self-defence techniques. Things like blocking punches and kicks as well as fending off a knife attack. Keira was doing great and she was really enjoying it. It had been a long time since she had been able to do any sort of physical work out and boy had she missed it. However when Owen started to show her how to break out of holds, she had a really hard time focussing with his body pressed against hers. The feel of his strong arms around her was extremely distracting.

They now had a small audience as Alex, Sean, Nikita and Michael had entered the gym for a group training session and stopped to watch. Keira started to feel really self-conscious and tensed up. Owen was standing behind her with his right arm wrapped around the top of her chest in a sort of loose choke hold. "Hey… relax" he whispered sensing the tension in her body. "Don't worry about them" he said as he gestured towards the others. "Just do it exactly like I showed you ok".

Keira took a deep breath and focused on what she needed to do. With one swift move Keira grabbed hold of his right arm with hers as she struck a blow to his ribcage with her left. As he doubled over a little she took the opportunity to take him down just like he had showed her. Quickly she grabbed his arm with the other hand too, spinning her body around she twisted his arm and flipped him over onto landing him on his ass. To finish it off she crouched over him pushing him to the ground and pressing her knee lightly into his chest to prevent him from getting back up. "Perfect" Owen whispered with a smile.

Cheering filled the room and she looked up to see Nikita and the others clapping in amazement. She blushed at the attention and stood up again holding out her hand to help Owen up off the mat. "Great work Keira" Nikita said giving her a light clap on the back as she wandered past to the adjacent training mat with Michael. "You will be kicking Owens ass in no time" Alex added in as her and Sean followed the others. "You know it!" Owen replied in confidence making Keira laugh.

"I think that's probably enough for today. You did great! I'm really proud of you" Owen smiled.

"Thanks, I really enjoyed it" she replied. "I definitely need a shower now" she laughed.

"I'll meet you back here and we can go get some dinner"

"Sounds good" she said as she jogged off toward the showers.

When Keira emerged from the changing rooms she saw Owen chatting to Sean and Alex and made her way over to them. Alex looked up to see her approaching and ran over to her. "Sooooo… you and Owen" she whispered with a cheeky grin.

"Me and Owen what?" Keira replied acting like she had no clue what Alex was talking about.

"Don't give me that! It's not hard to see that you guys are totally into each other! You're telling me that you guys are just friends?" she asked finding it hard to believe.

"We _are_ just friends"

"But you want it to be more right?"

Keira thought about it for a second. Of course she did, but she wasn't sure if she was ready to admit that to herself let alone Alex. "Maybe…" she whispered quietly.

"I knew it!" Alex exclaimed.

"Shhhhhhh! Keep your voice down" Keira hushed her.

"Sorry… but girl you need to tell him how you feel"

"Im scared" Keira admitted. "I'm not really sure what I feel to be honest"

"Well, do you trust him?" she questioned

"With my life" Keira replied.

"Are you attracted to him?"

"Ummm of course, have you looked at him" Keira giggled like a school girl as she glanced over at Owen to see him look up at her and give her a heart melting smile. Little did the girls know, that Sean was grilling Owen in much the same way.

"Dude… when are you going to stop pining and just tell her?" Sean questioned when he saw the way Owen smiled at Keira.

"What?" Owen asked, playing dumb.

"C'mon man. I see the way you look at her. You're in love with her aren't you?"

"Hopelessly" Owen confessed. "I just… I don't know if I should tell her you know. She has been through so much and the last thing I want to do is scare her away or make her feel pressured"

"Well, from what Alex has told me she thinks Keira has got the hots for you" Sean chuckled.

"Really?"

"Yeah. If you saw the two of you training just now you would know that she feels the same way. She has complete trust in you, and you have worked hard to earn that" Sean told him.

"Trust and love are two different things man" Owen replied.

"But they go hand in hand… trust me on this. You two are meant to be together. Just tell her how you feel Owen, you will be glad you did". Sean reassured him as he gave him a clap on the back. Owen looked back over to Keira to see her deep in conversation with Alex.

"What do you feel when you aren't with him?" Alex asked.

"Lonely"

"And when you're with him?"

"Complete" Keira said. And then it dawned on her and she had a look of realisation on her face.

"You love him don't you?" Alex said.

"Yes… I do" she confessed.

"Not only do you love him, but you are _in love_ with him" Alex observed.

"I've never felt this before Alex, it's kinda freaking me out"

"Don't worry about it. I've seen the way he looks at you. He feels the same way. One of you just needs to take that leap and tell the other how you feel"

"And you think I should be the one?" Keira asked.

"I think you guys need to stop dancing around each other" Alex laughed. "C'mon" she gestured as she put her arm around her shoulders and led her back toward the guys. "What are you guys talking about?" Alex asked as they approached.

"Just talking sports" Sean said with a grin.

"Typical guys" Alex laughed.

"Shall we go get something to eat?" Owen asked Keira, and she nodded in reply.

"Catch you guys later" Alex said. "Remember what I said Keira" she called out with a smile as her and Sean made their way over to the training mats.

"What was that about?" Owen questioned as they made their way through the corridors.

"Just girl talk" she replied brushing him off.

The two of them sat together in the mess hall and ate their dinner, enveloped in a comfortable silence. Each of them were deep in thought about the conversations they had earlier with Alex and Sean, debating whether or not to throw caution to the wind and announce their feelings. As much as Keira wished she could tell Owen she was too scared to be the one to make the first move, she decided instead to wait until she was ready, or for Owen to make a move. Whichever came first.

After dinner they wandered back to their rooms, both of them dragging their feet not really wanting to say good night. They arrived outside Keira's door where they stopped and stared at one another for a moment. "Thank you for today" Keira said, finally breaking the silence.

"My pleasure, you did great with your training. I was very impressed" Owen replied.

Keira decided that she should probably turn in for the night and think over her conversation with Alex. "Well… I should get some sleep. I'm pretty worn out" she told him.

"Keira…" he began, internally debating whether to take the leap or not. "Sleep well" he finished as he chickened out.

"You too Owen… goodnight" she said with a smile as she closed her door.

Owen stood out in the hallway for a moment, kicking himself for being such a pussy. What was so damn hard about telling a girl how you feel. Except Keira wasn't just any girl, he was starting to think that she was _the one_, and that terrified him a little. He headed next door to his room, hoping that after a good nights sleep he might find his courage again in the morning.

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**Please leave me a review and let me know what you thought of this chapter and whether I should continue on with this story. Thanks!**


	14. Chapter 13

**WARNING! This chapter contains mentions of violence and sexual assault. It is important to the story line, however if you don't want to read it I suggest skipping the middle area of this chapter, or skipping the whole chapter all together. Thank you and I hope you enjoy...**

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The night progressed like every other night since he saved Keira. Owen lay in his bed sound asleep after struggling for a while to tune out his thoughts, only to be woken by the sounds of screaming. Without a second thought he ran to Keira's room, he knew instantly that it was her. When he entered she was curled up on her bed, her knees pulled up to her chest hugged tightly by her arms, her face stained with tears.

It had become some sort of unspoken rule between them that when she had a nightmare Owen would come and hold her, make her feel safe, tell her everything was ok. So just like every other night he climbed onto the bed and settled in behind her, his legs either side of hers, and he wrapped his strong arms around her. She didn't know what it was about being hugged by Owen, but it felt like some sort of protective cocoon around her. As soon as he held her she felt safe almost immediately.

Keira let out a long sigh of both relief and exhaustion. She was tired of these nightmares constantly haunting her. All she wanted was for them to go away so she could have a peaceful nights sleep and not have to re live what happened in Brandt's basement. Maybe it was time to let it all out, relieve some of the heavy burden upon her shoulders. After all a problem shared is a problem halved, or so they say.

"Owen?" she whispered.

"Yeah?"

"I'm want to talk…about… about the nightmares" she told him.

"Ok. I'm here" he told her as he gave her a reassuring squeeze. "Whenever you're ready".

She took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled before she began to speak. "It's like I'm back there" she whispered. "Back in that place… with _him"_ she continued, not able to bring herself to say his name just yet. "I'm tied up, and he's there with a couple of other guys. They are talking about me, talking about the things they are going to do to me, like I'm not even in the room. They are laughing, they think it's hilarious. And then when he approaches I try to fight, but my bounds are so tight I can't even move. I scream as loud as I can and no one can hear me" she told him with tears rolling down her face as she choked back a sob.

"Sshhhh… It's ok. You're safe now. I got you. I won't ever let anything happen to you. I promise" Owen whispered as he rubbed his hand up and down her arm. "Do you want to tell me what happened there?"

Keira wiped away her tears and tried to put on a brave face as she held on tight to Owens arms. "I don't want you to see me differently. I don't want you to think… less of me" she whispered.

"Hey, nothing can ever make me think less of you. I know who you are. I've seen the real you. The one you keep hidden behind those walls. That girl is the strongest and bravest person I have ever known. I admire everything about you Keira, and I promise you that nothing… nothing can ever change that" Owen reassured her.

"Thank you" she said softly. She took another deep breath as she began. "When I first woke up there I was tied up and my clothes were gone. I was in just my underwear. I was so terrified, I had no idea what happened or where I was. After maybe an hour… _he_ came in. He introduced himself like it was a normal everyday thing… the smug bastard. At first him and his guys would just hit me, as though it was some kind of sport to them. You know, like they were in competition to see who could leave the biggest bruise, or who could make me scream the most with a knife" she whispered, her body starting to tremble a little as she recounted the events. "After a while they got tired of that and moved on…" she recalled, struggling to keep the tears at bay. "They would… _touch me_" she told him with a tone of disgust. "The more I tried to fight it, the more they would do it, and the worse it would be.

Hearing all of this made Owen's blood boil. He knew vaguely what had happened to her. He had seen the cuts and bruises, and the look on her face when the doctor had asked her about sexual assault when he had brought her back to division. But hearing it straight from her mouth made him feel sick. And it hurt, it hurt a lot. It was a kind of pain that he hadn't felt before. A pain so emotional that it felt physical too. He cared so much about her that just hearing of her pain hurt him.

"When they got bored of that they… they…." She sobbed, unable to finish the sentence.

"Shhh shhhh ssshhh" Owen whispered as he held her tight. "It's ok, I'm here"

"They… _raped me"_ she choked out through sobs. With that confession the flood gates opened and her tears flowed freely. She clutched at Owen as tightly as she could as she rode the waves of emotions.

When she uttered those words it felt like a sucker punch to the gut for Owen. He suspected it had happened but to hear her say it brought a new hatred for Brandt. Now he really wished he had killed the son of a bitch. He wanted to take her pain away, but he had no idea how. All he knew was that talking about it, getting it all out in the open would help relieve the burden of keeping that secret.

"They?" he questioned.

"_Brandt_… he went first… then the other two" she cried, finally able to grind out the bastards name.

"Was it just the one time?"

"No…" she sobbed. "It happened twice"

"Keira… I am so sorry" he sighed. "I wish that I could turn back time and stop it from happening. I wish I could take away all your pain. You should never have had to go through something like that" he told her as he wrapped his arms tighter around her.

"A couple of weeks ago, I had kind of come to terms with it. It was just something that happened, I had no control over it and I had accepted that fact. But then things started to change" she whispered.

"What changed?"

"You should know that I had never… I had never… you know…"

"You had never had sex?" he asked.

"Yeah… He took that from me" she cried. "As much as it hurt, and as much as I wished I could change it, I had accepted that it had happened and tried to move on" she told him. "I had always wanted to wait you know, find the right person. My Mama told me that it was something special, and that I should only give it to someone who makes me feel special. That always stuck with me. I guess in the beginning it was a little easier to accept it because I had never found that someone… but now…" she trailed off.

"But now?" he questioned.

"Now I think I have… and it hurts so much knowing that opportunity was stolen from me" she said, tears streaming down her face.

Owen felt heartbroken. That god damn son of a bitch! How dare he take something so important from her. The rape alone was bad enough, but now knowing that he stole her virginity, it just made Owen so much more mad, and upset. But did he hear her right? Did she say she thought she had now found that someone? Was she talking about him? He didn't want to push it so he decided to just let it slide for now and wait for her to say anything more about it.

"Keira" he whispered as he loosened his hold on her and moved himself to sit in front of her so he could see her face. "You can't imagine how sorry I am that this happened. He had no right to take that from you, it was yours to give to away. I wish I could just make everything better. It hurts me to see you so upset" he told her as he wiped the tears from her face. She buried herself into his chest and sobbed for a few minutes, letting out everything she had bottled up inside until she was able to regain her composure. He just held her tightly and rubbed her back in comfort.

"Owen…" she whispered as she pulled away to look up at him. "You have been so good to me. You have been there for me like no one has in such a long time" she told him.

"It's my pleasure"

"I want you to know… that it means the world to me. You… mean the world to me. You are all I have" she said softly.

He was taken aback by her confession. Although he wasn't quite sure if she meant as a friend or something more. Owen decided it was time to man up and tell her how he felt. There was no point in hiding from it any longer, and now was as good a time as any while they were on the topic of feelings.

"Keira, you know that I would do anything for you. From the moment we met you had me captivated. Your strength, your courage… everything about you amazes me. When you first started to let down your walls and allow me in, you had me falling for you. The more I get to see the real you, the deeper I fall. I know the timing is probably terrible for this with all you have been through, but I need you to know… that I've fallen hopelessly in love with you. And as much as I felt I should keep it to myself, I just couldn't hold it in any longer so I hope to god that you feel something too" he said, pouring his feelings out.

"I've been falling too" she whispered as she looked into his eyes. "I was afraid at first and I tried to ignore it. I didn't want to get hurt. But the more time I spent with you, the more I realised that you would never hurt me. So I hoped that if I continued to fall, you would be there to catch me" she smiled.

"Oh… I will always be there to catch you… always" he replied as he gently stroked her face with his thumb. Staring into her eyes he knew he had made the right decision to come clean about how he felt. And knowing that she felt the same way made him so happy, happier than he had ever been. Slowly he leaned forward gauging her response and when she smiled at him he knew it was ok. Gently he placed a soft sweet kiss on her lips. It lasted only a few seconds but it conveyed everything else he wanted to say, and by the way she kissed him back, he knew that she felt exactly the same as he did.

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**Thank you for reading, please take the time to review and let me know what you think. I hope to have the next chapter up very soon.**


	15. Chapter 14

When Keira woke the next morning she found herself snuggled up in Owens arms. It had become a very familiar place to be since she had arrived at division, but that morning it felt different somehow. A good kind of different though. Maybe it was because she didn't have to hide her feelings anymore. Or maybe it was because she knew that Owen felt the same about her. Whatever it was, she didn't really care. She was just happy to be waking up in a place that she felt safe.

As he stirred beside her, she decided to be a little bold and take a bit of a risk. So she moved up and planted a soft kiss along his jaw. She watched as his lips curled up into a small smile and his eyes opened sleepily.

"Morning" he whispered, his voice all husky. She couldn't help but find it extremely sexy.

"Morning" she replied with a smile.

"Did you sleep ok?"

"Better than I have in a long time… thank you" she said.

"Anytime".

"So uhhh about last night…." She began.

Owen was a little afraid that she was about to go back on what she said. He wasn't used to having anyone like her in his life, people never seemed to stick around for very long. So he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer snuggling in and making her giggle. He wasn't prepared to let her go anytime soon.

"Mmhmm?" he mumbled waiting for the rest of the sentence.

"What happens now?"

"Whatever you want to happen…"

"So are we… you know… together?" she asked, worried that she was sounding a bit like a silly little twelve year old school girl.

"My heart is yours Keira" he stated simply.

Those few words brought a huge smile to Keira's face and made her heart pound wildly in her chest. This perfect man was giving himself to her completely and she couldn't have been happier. She wanted to stay wrapped up in his arms all day long. She hadn't felt this carefree in a long time, and she was finally starting to feel like she didn't have to hide away the real her anymore. So she decided to mess with him a little, just for fun.

"Just your heart?" she questioned with a smile.

Owen shuffled back from his snuggling position so that he could look into her eyes. With a mixture of complete seriousness, love and adoration on his face he told her "Every part of me now belongs to you".

"Every part?" she asked with a sly little grin.

"Every part" he confirmed.

"This bit?" she asked as she planted a kiss on his cheek.

"Mmmhmm"

"And… this bit?" She questioned, placing a sweet kiss on his neck.

"Of course" he grinned enjoying her playful sense of humour. It was one of the many things he loved about her. Something that so far he had only been able to see small glimpses of, but he couldn't wait to see more of it.

"What about… this bit?" she asked as she pressed her lips gently against his for a quick kiss.

"Most definitely" he replied earning a little giggle from her.

Keira snuggled into him, resting her head on his chest, listening to the strong beat of his heart. He pulled her closer to him and began to run his fingertips along her arm. He was so content in this moment that he wanted to stay that way forever. He wished he could have her in his arms all the time, it just felt right. They lay together in silence for quite a while just enjoying the moment until Owen's stomach growled causing Keira to laugh.

"Shall we get up for breakfast?" she asked.

"As much as I don't want to move… I am really hungry" he chuckled. Reluctantly they untangled from one another and Owen left to change into fresh clothes while Keira did the same. When she left her room, he was waiting in the hall for her and they made their way to the mess together. As they entered and made their way to the food Keira stopped in her tracks when she saw Finn sitting at a nearby table smirking at her. When Owen noticed that she was no longer right next to him, he turned back to see what she was doing and realised what had her frozen. He walked up to Keira and whispered "Hey, ignore that douchebag. He's not worth your time" and he held out his hand for her, not at all bothered about what people would think or say. She willingly took it and followed him to get something to eat.

They sat at the farthest table from Finn as they could find, to avoid another incident. They certainly weren't looking to start something, but Finn was a special kind of stupid and looked like he wasn't letting go of what had happened last time. Obviously getting a beat down from a girl had bruised his inflated ego.

Halfway through breakfast Alex and Sean joined their table. Noticing how close Owen and Keira were sitting, she gave Keira a questioning kind of look. Subtly Keira gave her a little nod to answer the question that Alex was asking with her eyes, earning a smile from her.

"So what is that dickhead still doing here? Owen asked Alex as he nodded towards Finn.

"You know how it is. With the president on our backs about bringing in the rogue agents, we can't exactly send anyone packing and create more of a problem. So as much as we don't like him, he has to stick around. He's on thin ice around here, but there isn't much that can be done apart from keeping him in solitary. Which is where he has been up until a few days ago" she told them.

"Well, I definitely don't like it, and if he mouths off again he will be getting a beat down" Owen growled as he glared in Finn's direction

They continued on with their breakfast with some light conversation. When Owen and Sean left the table to get more food Alex quickly pounced on the opportunity to find out what was going on between the two of them. "So… spill! What happened last night? And don't tell me it was nothing because both of your faces say otherwise!" Alex said.

Keira laughed at her eagerness. "Alright, long story short Owen and I have spent almost every night together since I arrived" Keira told her.

"Oh my god" Alex exclaimed.

"Calm down! Not like that! Geez, mind out of the gutter Alex!" she laughed. "I… I have nightmares, and Owen, he helps. He stays with me and makes sure I feel safe you know…"

"I get you. So what was different about last night?"

"Last night I finally told him about what happens in the nightmares, as well as what happened with Brandt. It was good to get it all off my chest. Anyway… we got to talking about feelings and I told him that 'he meant the world to me' without actually saying whether I meant friends or more, covering myself in case he didn't feel the same" Keira said.

"And…?"

"And… he told me that he was in love with me" she smiled.

"I knew it!" Alex almost shouted.

"Shhhhh" Keira laughed. "So I told him I felt the same and then… we kissed"

"You what!?" Alex smiled with excitement.

"It was just a small kiss, but it was more than perfect"

"So you guys are a thing now?"

"We are"

"Are you making it known or is this to be kept on the down low?" Alex asked.

"Umm, we haven't really talked about it, but he did hold my hand as we were walking in, so I guess he isn't worried about people knowing" she smiled.

"Aww you guys are too cute!" she said, quickly trying to hide her excitement as the guys approached the table. "So are you guys training again today?"

"Only if Keira is up to it" Owen said as he took his place beside her.

"Definitely" she replied enthusiastically.

As they finished off their breakfast Owen saw Finn heading their way and instinctively put his arm around Keira in a protective fashion, which didn't go unnoticed by Sean and Alex. Finn gave Owen a smug grin as he walked past him, stopping next to Keira he said quietly "You _with_ him now? I told you, you're way out of his league… but my offer still stands…" Owen heard every word, as did Sean and Alex, and boy was Owen pissed. He immediately stood up and got right in Finn's face.

"If you so much as speak to her again, I will flatten you, you got that!?" Owen growled.

"Chill cleaner, just giving my girl here the option of a _better _man" he said smugly.

Just as Owen was ready to punch him in the face Keira stood up, intertwining her fingers with Owens and holding his hand tight. "Leave it Owen, he's not worth it" she whispered. "I'm yours and yours only… forever and always" she stated as she very boldly closed the gap between them and pressed her lips against his for a very passionate kiss, shutting Finn up completely and earning a quiet cheer from Alex and Sean. As they parted Owen gave her a huge smile, proud of the way she not only dealt with the situation but was very openly affectionate with him. Not at all afraid to announce to anyone watching the exchange that she was _his_ girl.

"Give it up Finn… I am not _your_ girl nor will I ever be. My heart belongs to Owen. And for the record, he is one hundred times the man you will ever be" She said to Finn as Owen put a protective arm around her waist, holding her close to him.

Finn was pissed to say the least, and for a moment he considered taking a swing at Owen, but when the navy seal stood up giving him a stern look he knew he was far outnumbered. So he decided against it and high tailed it out of the mess hall.

"Wow that was…." Sean began.

"Awesome!" Alex exclaimed.

"I was going to say unexpected but yeah… awesome pretty much sums it up too" he laughed. "It's about time someone put that little punk in his place. Way to go Keira".

Keira couldn't hide the blush that had crept up on her face. She wasn't exactly sure where her bravery had come from, she hadn't planned on kissing him like that, but she was more than glad that she handled it the way she did. To say that Owen was an amazing kisser would be an understatement. And now that she had _really_ kissed him, she couldn't wait to do it again.

"Time for training?" Owen asked.

"Absolutely. Let's go" she replied, still holding onto his hand.

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**Thank you for reading. Please leave me a review and tell me what you thought of this chapter. I am on a roll with this story and am thoroughly enjoying writing it so I'm sure there will be many more chapters to come. If you are still with me on this story let me know so that I know I'm not just writing it for myself haha.**


	16. Chapter 15

Another couple of weeks had passed by and Owen and Keira's relationship was now known by practically all of division. They had been taking things very slowly and hadn't progressed past cuddles and kisses. It wasn't something that they had really discussed but Owen was happy enough to just have Keira and he wasn't going to try and move things too quickly, especially after what she had been through. So he thought that he would either wait until she made the next step, or she voiced her desire to move forward.

Today was the day that they were finally getting to see their own tattoos, having completed them a couple days prior. They gave them some time to heal so that any irritation or swelling had subsided and they looked their best. Owen was going first, at Keira's request. She was so excited to see what he thought of it, being her design, that she couldn't wait any longer.

They had commandeered one of the medical rooms for a few minutes as they had plenty of mirrors to get a good view. With the tattoos being on their backs it was a little hard to see. As Keira drew the blinds so that no one could see in, Owen removed his shirt and stood with his back to a large mirror. "Okay, close your eyes for a minute" Keira instructed as she began to position the second mirror in front of him reflecting the image from the first one. She moved to stand behind him, checking that the angle was correct before standing off to the side. "Alright, you can open them now" she told him.

When Owen opened his eyes he was completely blown away. This was by far his largest tattoo. And for the time it took, it was totally worth it. "Holy shit…" he said, unable to find words to accurately describe what he thought of it. "This is… amazing! I'm so happy with how it turned out"

"I'm glad you like it" Keira said as she approached him, reaching out to run her fingers along the outlines of the angels wings.

"Come here" he said as he tugged on her hand, guiding her around to the front of his body. He placed his hand on her cheek, leaning in for a gentle kiss. "Thank you for drawing this for me, and allowing me to get it tattooed on my body" he told her pulling her in for a hug.

"No need to thank me. I should be thanking you. You are after all wearing my art on your skin. It's like free publicity" she laughed.

"This tattoo" he began, looking over her shoulder to admire it in the mirror again. "This is by far my most meaningful one".

His words made Keira blush. She wasn't sure if she would ever get used to someone thinking the world of her like he did. It had been such a long time since anyone had shown her that much love and respect. And she loved that Owen enjoyed being referred to as her guardian angel, because it was definitely how she saw him.

"Right… your turn" Owen said as he released her from the hug and moving off to the side.

Keira slowly pulled her tank top off over her head, tossing it aside, so that she just had her bra on her top half. "Owen… would you mind unclipping me?" she asked, as she held the front of it over her breasts.

"Of course" he replied. He undid the clasp for her and moved out of the way so she could see her tattoo.

"Wow!" she exclaimed. It was beautiful. It looked even better than her drawing, she couldn't have been happier with it. "This is perfect" she said as she admired her back in the mirror. "I can't get over how beautiful it is".

"It is amazing" Owen agreed. "It's almost as beautiful as you… almost" he told her as he stepped closer planting a soft kiss on her shoulder making her blush once again.

"You're so sweet" she smiled as she admired the tattoo some more.

"Can you clip me back up?" she asked once she had taken in every last inch of it.

"Sure thing"

As Keira turned around to retrieve her tank to from the chair behind her she caught a glimpse of her body in the mirror. She stepped closer to examine the marks on her skin, a tear slipping from her eye. It was like a constant reminder of what had happened to her, and she had to wear it on her skin. Suddenly she felt very self-conscious about her body and the joy that she felt just moments ago had gone. Owen noticed her tears, and before she tried to quickly shove her top back on he grabbed her arm gently to stop her and he took the tank top from her hands. "Hey… what's wrong?" he asked. She bowed her head and wiped at her face with her other arm. "Keira… please… talk to me" he whispered.

"My scars, they make me feel… ugly and broken. Like I'm damaged goods" she cried.

"Awww babe… come here" he whispered as he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight. "You could never be ugly… not ever".

"I wish I didn't have the constant reminder right there on my skin". She told him.

"Here, let me show you something" he whispered. He moved to stand behind her and lifted her head to look at herself in the mirror. "Each and every one of these" he said as he pointed to the marks on her skin. "These are proof of how strong you are. These show that you are brave. You are a fighter… don't ever forget that. And it's ok to be broken, we have all been there at some point. That's why I'm here, to put all your pieces back together and hold them in place".

She replied with just a nod, unable to find any words.

"And this…" he said as he turned her around so that she could see her tattoo again, although part of it was covered by her bra. "This is you… a phoenix rising from the ashes. You have been through hell in your life, but by some miracle you have come out on top. You have risen above it all to be this amazing and beautiful woman right here" he said pointing to her reflection in the mirror. "I will always think you are beautiful. Even when we are old and grey, you will still be the most beautiful woman in the world to me, I want you to know that".

"I love you Owen" she said simply as she turned to wrap her arms around his shoulders. He reciprocated by wrapping his arms around her waist and saying "I love you more". As he pulled away he slid her top back over her head and down her body, placing a sweet kiss on her forehead when he was done.

"You good?" he asked.

"Yeah… I'm good" she said wiping away the last of her tears. "Thank you Owen"

"Anytime babe"

Keira giggled a little with a blush creeping up on her face.

"What?" Owen asked, a little confused.

"You called me babe… twice" she told him.

"Is that a good thing?"

"It is. I like it" she smiled.

"Well that's good. I'll keep doing it then" he chuckled. "Time for our training session, you ready?"

"Let's go" she replied with great enthusiasm. Their training sessions were one of her favourite parts of the day. She had learnt so much from him and she felt stronger every day. And of course it was a fantastic excuse to have her hands on Owens body… man did he have a _great_ body.

Down in the training room Owen and Keira were getting ready for a sparring match. He had taught her a lot of different fighting styles over the last few weeks including Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Kick Boxing, Karate, Taekwondo, Judo and Krav Maga. He was amazed at how quickly she seemed to pick everything up. They were at the point now where they could have a full sparring match using combinations of each different style and she would be able to pick up on which he was using, as well as the appropriate counter attack or defence to use against him.

Once they had warmed up, their match began. At first Owen took things slowly, allowing her time to find her groove. After a couple minutes when she started to kick his ass a little he stepped it up a notch. With their training always came some friendly banter, they couldn't help but taunt one another. It was always very light hearted with a twist of flirtation thrown in.

As Owen attempted to take her down, Keira very cleverly used her size against him as she spun around him and flipped him to the ground using her bodyweight. She had him pinned on the floor as she laughed "Is that all you got?" with a cheeky grin.

"Not even close babe" Owen countered as he turned the tables on her lifting her right off of him and pinning her to the mat. She struggled against his strength and weight and found that she couldn't fight her way out of this hold, so she decided to use a bit of dirty tactics. He had always told her to use whatever you could in a fight, 'it could just save your life' he had said. Of course her life wasn't in any danger right now, but she thought it would be fun to try it out. Slowly she slid her hands under his shirt and ran the tips of her fingers up his body as she smiled at him. Owen gave her a slightly confused look as he unknowingly relaxed at her touch leaning in closer to her. Keira took the opportunity to catch him off guard, levering herself in a way that she could push him onto his back again.

"Oh it's like that now is it? Distracting me with your charms?" he laughed.

"You know it" she laughed. "A girls gotta use everything in her arsenal right".

He decided that she had earned the win for that round and they stood up to do it all over again for the next round. They continued on like that for a good hour until they were both exhausted and hungry. Over all Owen had won, but Keira was never too far behind. They hit the showers to clean up before heading to the mess for some food.

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**I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. As always leave me a review and let me know what you thought :) I have ideas for the following chapters so I plan on continuing this story for a while.**


	17. Chapter 16

**This is officially my longest fanfic story :) Thank you to anyone still ready and for those who have left me reviews.**

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Things flowed pretty smoothly for the next few weeks. Luckily Owen wasn't needed for too many missions and they were all just short recon type jobs. He never had to be away for more than a few hours at a time. Keira had been keeping up with her training really well and there was even talk of Owen taking her out in the field with him. Not that they were training her to be an agent by any means, everything she was learning was purely for self-defence, but he thought it would be good for her to see what his job entailed. To help set her mind at ease that he wasn't always running into a blaze of gunfire. The last thing he wanted was her to be anymore tied up in division than she already was by working for them. The sooner they were done with rounding up the dirty thirty the better.

When Owen arrived back from another recon mission with Sean that week he rushed off to the training room to find Keira, he knew that's where she would be. He entered to find her jogging away on one of the treadmills, covered in a light sheen of sweat. "Hey babe, how's it going?" he asked as he approached her.

She turned off the treadmill and took a sip of water. "Good... You?" she replied through pants as she tried to catch her breath.

"Good, our mission was a piece of cake. I ummm… I have a surprise for you when you're done here" he told her.

"Ooooh really?" she asked all excited, wondering what it could be.

"Yeah. You want to take a shower? Then we can go"

"Be back in ten" she said as she gave him a kiss on the cheek and took off toward the showers.

"So today's the day huh?" Nikita asked as she approached Owen after unintentionally eavesdropping.

"Yep… today's the day" he replied. "Everything is all ready, and thanks for your help by the way. I thought it was important to get a woman's opinion, you know"

"My pleasure. I'm just glad to see you're finally happy. You deserve it and I can see how much you love her"

"Thanks Nikita, that means a lot".

"Well, let me know how it goes. I'll see you later" she said as she left for Ops to finish going over the information Owen and Sean had gathered for their next mission.

"Will do!" he called after her.

Keira emerged a few minutes later looking fresh and revived. "Ready" she told Owen as she put her hand in his. They headed to the vehicle bay to make their way toward the city.

As they neared the city, Owen turned off down a small road ending at what looked to be a small farm with a cottage. From the outside it looked to be almost new and in immaculate condition. He parked the car out front and turned to Keira and said "Come with me". She followed him towards the house, holding his hand, wondering who they were visiting. Owen seemed to have friends and connections all over the place, so it wouldn't surprise her that he would have an asset out there.

He unlocked the door and wandered in, guiding Keira in behind him. They walked down a small hallway adorned with some beautiful paintings before they came to a nice open planned living room, dining room and kitchen area. She looked around, taking everything in. The furniture looked brand new, like it had never even been used. "Owen… who lives here?" she asked a little confused as to why it didn't look lived in.

"We do" he said as he turned to her, a sweet smile plastered on his face. She gasped quietly in reply, not sure how to even respond to that statement.

"This… this is our house?" she asked, somewhat stunned.

"Yep. This is ours"

"How?... Wh… when?" she stuttered, still in shock. He had set all this up in secret without even giving a hint away. She had no idea that he had been working on it.

"I've had some money stashed away for a while, waiting for a time like this. I bought the land, and had the cottage moved onto it. Nikita helped me set it all up… you know, give it a woman's touch. I wanted it to be a surprise for you" he told her. "Do you like it?"

"Owen… I love it. It's beautiful" she said as she made her way around the room admiring every inch of it. She got to the kitchen and was flooded with excitement at how big the oven was. Cooking was one of her secret passions, something Owen had known and kept in mind when designing the perfect kitchen for her.

"Here" he said reaching out his hand for her. "Come this way". He led her down another hallway off the living room down to the other end of the house. They came to the first door and he swung it open for her. It was their bathroom, complete with his and hers basin and mirrors, a decent sized shower, a toilet, and a beautiful bath tub big enough for two.

"Oh my god" she said as she ran her hand along the tub. He knew how much she loved to take a bath and had been dying for one for months. Division only had showers, so he knew he had to make sure this house had an amazing bath tub for her. For the both of them really, because he planned on sharing it with her a lot. "This is amazing Owen. I love it" she whispered.

"We're not done yet" he said as he steered her back out and across the hall to the next door. As he opened it he said "this is the spare room". She wandered in, examining everything. There was a queen sized bed on one side of the room, and a chest of drawers opposite it. And on the other side of the room there was a very large, almost wall length desk set up with all sorts of art supplies from pencils and pens and sketch pads, to paints and paintbrushes. She was absolutely amazed by it all and in total awe of what Owen had done. "I thought you would like a place to be creative" he told her with a smile.

"Owen… you are incredible, you know that!" she exclaimed. "This is just perfect" she said as she wrapped her arms around him for a hug.

"You deserve it babe, I would give you the entire world if I could. You know that" he said as he kissed her forehead. "C'mon, there's one more room". He led her to the last door at the end of the hall. "Close your eyes" he said as he took her in. Positioning her near the middle of the room on one side, he stood behind her wrapping his arms around her waist. "Okay, now you can open them" he instructed.

As she opened her eyes Keira was almost instantly in tears of joy. It was the most amazing master bedroom she had ever seen. On the side nearer to her there were two chests of drawers, one tall and one low, each with various items positioned on top of them. Against the far wall was a king sized bed with small cabinets either side. They were adorned with scented candles, and she could smell the vanilla from halfway across the room. She loved the smell of vanilla, he knew her so well. The bed had a cerulean blue comforter with darker blue swirled patterns on it, and laid on top was a heart made of rose petals. The wall behind the bed was painted the darker shade of blue to match the comforter, and on that wall was a large framed drawing. On closer inspection she realised that it was one of hers. It was the drawing she had done of Owen cradling her protectively in his arms as he carried after she had passed out, the day they had met. He'd had it copied and enlarged to be put into a frame.

"I chose that one, because it reminded me of the day things changed forever. Saving you was the best thing I have ever done with my life. I hope it's ok, I know that probably isn't something you want to be reminded of… if not we can take it down and put something…" he said before Keira could cut him off.

"No" she interrupted. "It's perfect. That day was the beginning of the rest of our lives". She told him. "You made an excellent choice. In fact… this whole house it perfect".

"Welcome home babe" he said as he hugged her tighter and planted a sweet kiss on her cheek.

"It's been a long time since I have been able to call any place home" she said snuggling into him, as her head rested back onto his chest.

"Well this is our home now" he smiled. "But I want you to know that even if we didn't have this place… _your _home will always be right here… in my arms" he said as he held her tight.

"I wouldn't want it any other way" she whispered tilting her head up for a kiss, which he more than happily gave her.

"Oh… there's one more thing" he said quickly, almost forgetting about it.

"You mean there's more?" she laughed. "I'm not sure you could even top this Owen".

"Just you wait and see" he chuckled as he lead her over to the lower chest of draws. Upon it lay a small wooden box about eight by four inches. Keira looked up at him questioningly. "This is yours… go ahead, open it" he told her. As she lifted the lid on the box she discovered a beautiful gold chain. Carefully she picked it up to examine it, and on it there was a phoenix pendant encrusted with diamonds. "I had it custom made for you" he said proudly.

"Oh Owen…" she whispered as tears welled up in her eyes. "It's gorgeous"

"Here, I'll put in on for you" he said as he held out his hand. She gave him the necklace and pulled her hair away from her neck. Carefully Owen placed the necklace on her, making sure the pendant was around the right way before doing up the clasp and kissing the back of her neck. Keira admired it in the mirror, touching it gently with her fingertips.

"How does it look?" she asked as she turned to him.

"Stunning… just like you" he replied with a sweet smile.

"I don't even know what to say… thank you Owen. For all of this. For everything you have done for me"

"Anything for you babe. All I want in life is to make you happy" he smiled.

"And you do" she replied. "You make me so happy. Happier than I have ever been" she said as leaned in and kissed him passionately.

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**Leave me a review and let me know what you thought. Thanks :)**


	18. Chapter 17

Owen stood in the briefing room with Nikita and the others. They were all going over the plan to catch the next member of the dirty thirty. He was target number nineteen. The previous eighteen had either been captured or killed, slowly but surely they were getting the job done. It was all hands on deck for this one. Timothy Cook was one of divisions most highly valued agents once upon a time. He had excelled in every aspect of his training and they knew that he would be extremely difficult to apprehend. They had their work cut out for them.

Cook had set himself up as a hitman for hire, his home base was in Toronto, Canada. The fresh intel that they had on him meant they knew exactly where he was going to be for the next 24 hours so they had to move quickly.

When the briefing was done Owen made his way to the training room to talk to Keira. She had come in with him to train in the gym while he worked. As he entered he found her laying into a sparring dummy, showing tremendous force and skill, he was very proud of how far she had come.

"Hey babe" he said as he approached her giving her a peck on the cheek.

"What's up?" she asked. "You have that serious look on your face".

"We've got a new mission, and they need me on this one" he told her.

Keira put on a brave face, determined not to show how worried she felt about him going out in the field. Sure she knew he had done it a million times and it was what he was trained for. But she couldn't help worrying about him every time. "Where do you have to go?"

"It's only to Canada so luckily it's not very far. I'm hoping we can wrap this one up pretty quick but I might be gone over night" he said with a sad look on his face. He never liked to leave Keira, even though he knew that she was pretty good at looking out for herself now.

"It's ok Owen" she said as she caressed his face softly. "It's your job, and I will be ok by myself".

"I know babe… I just hate being away from you".

"I don't like it either. But it won't be for long. We can manage" she smiled.

"We are leaving really soon. I have sorted it with Johnny to drive you home when you are ready ok" he told her as he nodded to one of the other agents as he just entered the gym to do some training too. She had met him before, and they had chatted a couple of times, he seemed nice enough. And if Owen trusted him, then she knew she could trust him too.

"Ok, I will probably only be another hour or so here" she replied.

"Alright babe… I better go get ready. I'll be back as soon as I can. If you need me just call ok"

"I will" she said as she wrapped her arms around him. "Owen, please be safe" she said as she kissed him passionately. "I want you back in one piece".

"I'll be careful" he said as he gave her one last kiss to her forehead and left to get his gear sorted for the op.

Keira spent some time on the treadmill as well as lifting some weights before wandering over to Johnny who was practising on one of the sparring dummies. "Hey Keira, you up for some sparring? Or are you done for the day?" he asked.

"Oh yeah, I got a little left in the tank for a few rounds" she replied.

She had only ever fought with Owen and Alex, so fighting with another man was going to be a little interesting. She still wasn't really used to anyone touching her, but she was slowly starting to trust people. After being burnt by people for so long, it was hard to be able to believe that not everyone is out to hurt you.

As they began the fight they danced around the mat avoiding each other's punches and kicks before really getting into it. Keira made the first real move as Johnny tried to land a kick, she grabbed his leg as she swept his other one out from beneath him, landing him on his ass. Quickly she pinned him to the floor in one of the many holds Owen had taught her and just like that she had won the round. She wasn't sure if she was just getting a lot better or if he was taking it easy on her.

"Holy shit" Johnny said. "You're a natural fighter Keira, I was barely holding back".

In their second round Johnny stopped holding back all together. The round lasted a lot longer, but in the end he took Keira down. She had forgotten to switch up her combinations and he was able to predict her next move, and applied the perfect counter attack before pinning her.

"You got some strength girl! Owen has taught you well" he commended.

"Thanks Johnny, we have been working pretty hard… final round… this is the decider, you ready for this?"

"I was born ready, let's go".

Their final round was very intense, starting off with a lot of kick boxing which then merged into some karate. Keira was quite happy that she was able to keep up with him even though she had been working out for a couple of hours prior and was feeling rather tired. When she noticed that he too was starting to look tired she took the opportunity to throw in some of the new moves that she had been practising with Owen just the other day, and Johnny didn't see it coming. She rushed him and grabbed his upper arm, near the shoulder and launched herself into a spin around behind him. As she gained momentum and came back around she wrapped her legs over his shoulders and around his neck in a somewhat acrobatic fashion. She let her upper body drop down to the ground, planting her hands on the floor using her weight to pull him down, flipping him over onto his back. Before he even had time to register what had just happened she had him pinned to the floor again.

"Jesus Keira… what the hell was that?" he laughed. "What are you… some crazy gymnast assassin?"

Keira laughed as she got up and held out her hand for him. "Just something new Owen and I have been working on, thought I would try it out" she told him.

"So I was your guinea pig?"

"Well technically Owen was, but that was only practise when I was trying to perfect it… so in a way… yeah".

"Well I'm glad I could be of assistance" he laughed. "Thanks for kicking my ass".

"Anytime" she chuckled. "I'm just going to hit the showers then I'll be ready to go".

"Alright, same here. I'll meet you back out here, then I'll drive you home".

The team landed in Toronto and quickly made their way to the safe house they had set up to get ready to storm Cook's place. Owen was having a hard time not worrying about Keira. The last time he had left her that bastard Finn had a go at her. At least now she would be at their home and wouldn't have to deal with that. As he got his weapon ready he muttered to himself "head in the game Owen… get your head in the game".

"Everything ok Owen?" Nikita asked, hearing him talking to himself.

"Yeah… everything is good" he told her, which was a little bit of a lie.

"You're worrying about her aren't you?" she asked.

"I can't help it" he sighed.

"It's normal… you love her. You always worry about the ones you love. I wish I could tell you it gets better with time, but I would be lying. Just remember with all that you have taught her she can handle herself pretty well. She's tough, she will be absolutely fine".

"You're right. She will be fine. We will have this wrapped up in no time and I'll be back with her".

"Exactly. Focus on getting through this mission and you will be back in her arms soon enough" she told him.

"We all ready!?" Michael called out to the whole team, receiving replies from each of them. "Alright, you all know your roles, comms and trackers on… let's get this done".

As they pulled up to Cook's place they each took their positions around the exterior of the property. On Michaels signal, each team busted in their doors and began to storm the building. Michael and Nikita entered through the front, and Alex, Sean and Owen through the rear. As soon as they started making their way through multiple men with guns emerged from the rooms, firing shots at them. At the front Michael and Nikita took out three guys and split up each taking a room to clear. The other three shot down four guys and proceeded through the house clearing each room as they went. "Guys I think we have a runner" Owen spoke through his comms as he noticed an open window in the room he was checking. "I'm checking it out".

"We will be right behind you" Alex spoke as she finished checking the kitchen with Sean.

"Clear out front" Nikita spoke.

"Making our way outside for back up Owen" Michael added.

As Owen climbed out the window he was immediately confronted with gunfire and was clipped in the thigh. He quickly took cover and inspected his wound. Luckily it wasn't very deep. He heard the sound of the garage door opening and peered out to see Cook climbing into his truck. "I have cook outside" he told the others. Without a second thought Owen came out emptying his mag into the windshield in an attempt to stop him from getting away. Cook put his foot down speeding out of the garage.

Nikita and Michael came around the corner just in time to see Owen get hit by the truck rolling up over the hood and bouncing off coming crashing down to the ground. "Owen!" Nikita yelled as she fired a few rounds at the vehicle as it tore towards them. Ducking off to the side, Michael let rip with his assault rifle taking out one of the front tyres as it exited the driveway causing the truck to flip and roll out onto the street. As Nikita rushed to check on Owen, Michael ran to the truck dragging out a semi-conscious Cook, pinning him to the ground and putting some cuffs on him.

"Guys, I need a sit-rep" Ryan called through the comms from Ops.

"I've got Cook" Michael replied.

"Owen's down, looks like he's hurt bad" Nikita spoke.

"The authorities have been alerted to gunfire" Birkhoff added in. "You guys need to get out of there now".

"Sean, help me with Owen" Nikita said as she started to lift his unconscious body off the ground.

They piled back into their vehicles making their way back to the airfield where they had a plane waiting for extraction. "We are on our way to the extraction point" Nikita told Ryan. "Have a medical team on standby for Owen".

"Will do. See you back here soon" Ryan replied.

"What do we tell Keira…?" Sonya asked, looking rather worried.

"Damn… I'm not looking forward to this conversation" Ryan replied as he picked up the phone and began searching for Keira's number.

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**Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Stay tuned to find out what happens to Owen :) As always please take the time to post a review, they keep my creativity flowing :D**


	19. Chapter 18

**I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I did writing it**

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Keira was in the spare bedroom working on a drawing when her phone rang. She thought it would be Owen and was excited to hear from him, but when she looked at the screen it flashed 'unknown caller'. Who else could be calling her? It wasn't like many people had her number. Hesitantly she hit accept and brought the phone up to her ear.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Keira?... this is Ryan Fletcher" replied the voice on the other end.

Immediately panic struck. Her heart rate increased and her breathing picked up. Why on earth would the leader of Division be calling her? Something had to be terribly wrong.

"Ryan? Is everything ok? Please tell me Owen is alright" she said.

"I'm sorry Keira, I can't do that… there's been an accident" he told her.

"Oh god" she cried. "Is he… is he?" she stuttered unable to even bring herself to finish the question.

"He's alive… " he tried to reassure her. "They are on their way back here now, but until he gets here we won't know the extent of his injuries".

He was met with silence on the other end of the line and quickly became concerned. "Keira?"

"I'm… I'm still here" she replied, trying to take deep breaths and calm herself down. Her worst fear was to have something happen to Owen, she had no idea what she would ever do without him. He was her whole world. She knew better than anyone that life could be cruel, but hadn't she been through enough already? Surely Owen wouldn't be taken away from her too.

"Ok… Keira, I'm going to send someone out to pick you up and bring you in so that you can be here when Owen arrives"

"Thank you Ryan" she said as she hung up the phone. She sat there for a minute just processing the information. Keeping her breathing in check and trying to remain calm. Slowly she tidied up her things and got herself ready to go back to Division. She knew she had to try and hold herself together, panicking was not going to do her or Owen any good.

When Keira arrived in the auto bay Ryan was there to greet her. "I've just had word from Michael, they are about thirty minutes out. He told me that Owen was struck by a vehicle, he's alive but still unconscious. We still don't know how badly he's hurt but by a rough examination they suspect he has at least a couple of broken ribs. He hit the ground pretty hard coming down so likely has concussion and will need some stitches on the wound to his head. We won't know anymore until we get him back here and x-rayed" he told her.

Keira fought hard to hold back her tears, but eventually lost that battle. She hoped that the next thirty minutes would pass by quickly. She needed to see Owen. Needed to know that he was ok. Wiping the tears away she tried to put on a brave face, but it wasn't happening for her. She was too upset and there was no hiding it.

Ryan felt horrible being the one that had to deliver the bad news. He knew from his conversations with Owen how much they cared for one another. He also knew some of what she had been through and her reluctance to trust people, especially men. But he felt the need to comfort her, he hated to see a woman cry. Carefully he reached out a hand and placed it on her shoulder. "He will be ok Keira, Owen is tough, he'll get through this" he reassured her.

Keira nodded in reply but couldn't bring herself to speak. Instead she put her arms around Ryan for comfort, and he reciprocated and gently rubbed her back. "I'm sorry I had to be the bearer of bad news" he told her.

"It's ok. It's part of your job" she replied. "Thank you Ryan… for the reassurance" she said as she let him go.

"Not a problem. That's also part of my job" he smiled. "If you like you can come and wait in Ops with Birkhoff, Sonya and I for the others to return".

"I might just do that".

When the team arrived back at division, Keira and Ryan met them at the medical wing. Keira felt like her heart had stopped in her chest when Michael and Sean carried in a semi conscious and very badly hurt looking Owen through the door. She gasped his name as he let out a cry of pain when they lay him on the examination bed. She was frozen on the spot as the doctor, Anna, swooped in to check out his injuries. All she wanted was to be by his side, but the last thing she wanted was to impede the doctor in any way. So there she stood, her arms wrapped tightly around herself, waiting nervously to find out how bad it was.

As the rest of the team began to filter out of the room, Nikita approached and placed her hand on Keira's shoulder. "He'll be okay Keira. He's one of the strongest people I know" she whispered. Keira just nodded in response, continuing to stare intently at the man she loved.

Anna administered some pain relief and hooked him up to a couple of monitors. She then began poking and prodding at Owen's chest to feel for broken ribs and he let out another grunt of pain which pulled at Keira's heart strings. But it was the noise that followed that managed to somehow break her heart, and also fill her with a sense of love at the same time. "Keira…" he mumbled. "I want… I need to see Keira" he told Anna as he tried to move off the bed. "Owen. I need you to calm down, she's right here" she told him as she held him down, and beckoned for Keira to come to him.

"Hey baby" Keira whispered as she reached out for his hand, intertwining her fingers with his. "I'm here" she said leaning closer and placing a kiss on his forehead as she ran her other hand through his hair in a relaxing manner. She knew that always calmed him.

"Owen, I'm going to need you to lie very still as I x-ray your chest, can you do that for me?" the doctor asked him as she brought the high tech portable machine closer, positioning it over his chest. "You got it doc" he replied, slowly becoming more lucid.

"Hey…" he said as he looked up at Keira, conjuring a small smile feeling calmer in her presence. "I missed you babe".

"You weren't even gone a day" she replied, laughing a little at how cute he was.

"I know… but it felt like forever".

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Like I've been hit by a truck" he laughed in reply.

"Funny that" she giggled, recognising that he was trying to keep the mood light so he didn't worry her. "Seriously though Owen, I was so worried when Ryan called me".

"It's ok. I've been through a lot worse. I'm gonna be fine babe" he reassured her as he brought her hand up to his lips, planting a sweet kiss on her knuckles. "I love you".

"I love you too" she replied.

"While I wait for the x-ray to come up on the screen I'm going to take a look at that head wound" she told him.

"Be my guest".

Anna removed the field dressing that Michael had applied and surveyed the wound. Thankfully it wasn't too bad, but deep enough to require a few stitches which Owen handled with ease. After all this wasn't his first rodeo. When she finished up she removed her gloves and went back to her computer to check the results of the x-ray.

"Well the good news is only two of your ribs are broken, but a further three are also cracked" the doctor explained.

"No wonder it hurts" Owen winced.

"What is your pain on a scale of one to ten?"

"About an eight"

"Hmmm, that morphine should have had some affect by now. I'll give you a little more" she told him as she began prepping a needle.

Owen looked back at Keira and tried to give her a reassuring smile, but she knew better. He couldn't hide his pain from her. Without warning, Owen groaned and began to gasp for air.

"Owen…. Owen!" Keira yelled as she stood up and squeezed his hand trying to get some sort of response out of him.

"Owen! Doctor what's happening!?" Keira cried out as the monitors started beeping wildly.

"I need some help in here!" the doctor yelled out the door before rushing to Owen's side. She flashed a light in his eyes to gauge his pupillary response. "Owen can you hear me?" she asked him, and received no response as he continued to struggle for breath.

Two people came rushing into the room and Keira was ushered off to the side as they began to work on him. "I suspect he has a punctured lung caused by his broken ribs and it has collapsed" Anna told the others. "I have to get a needle in to drain off the air around the lungs so it can inflate properly" she explained as she prepped a rather large looking needle.

Keira stood off to the side, tears streaming down her face, terrified that she was going to lose Owen. Just then Alex came rushing in. "Keira… what happened?" she asked.

"Alex, oh my god… I… I don't know" she cried. "One minute he was fine, then he couldn't breathe and… and" she stuttered.

"Shhh. It's ok. These doctors know what they're doing. They will fix this" she reassured as she pulled her in for a hug. "Owen will be ok".

They watched on as the doctors continued to work on him, and as she inserted the needle into his chest his heart rate slowly began to stabilise and his breathing started to even out. One of the doctors placed an oxygen mask over his face to make sure he was getting enough.

The two girls breathed a sigh of relief as one of the staff left the room once he became more stabilised after receiving the second dose of morphine. Anna went back to the x-rays to examine them further, able to locate the area where the lung would have been punctured, and that's when she noticed something even worse. Before she could voice her concerns to the other doctor the monitor alarms started blaring again. "He's going into cardiac arrest!" she yelled to the other doctor. "We need to shock him" Anna said as she began strategically placing gel pads on his body. "He's bleeding internally; we will need to open him up… Clear!" she yelled before she gave Owen a jolt. His body arched up off the bed and after a few seconds he continued to flat line. "Clear!" she yelled again as she gave him another jolt. Again he arched up off the bed, and after what seemed like an eternity his heart resumed its rhythm, albeit a little faster than usual. "Right, prepare him for surgery, we'll take him down to room one".

Keira and Alex stood there in shock at what they had just seen. Owen nearly died, and he wasn't out of the woods yet. Alex led her out of the room as the doctors began to prep him for surgery. Tears flowed freely from her eyes as she struggled to remain positive. Things were not looking good for Owen and she was terrified. She buried her face into Alex's shoulder as they held one another for comfort and Keira begged for him to be ok.

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**I will look at wrapping this story up in a few more chapters, I'm not sure if anyone is still following it, I feel as though I may be writing it just for myself.**

**Anyway if you are reading please leave me a review, let me know what you thought. I apologize for any spelling mistakes etc, I do my best to proofread my work. Stayed tuned for the next chapter to find out what happens with Owen. Thanks!**


	20. Chapter 19

**I hope you enjoy reading this chapter, sorry it took so long for me to update.**

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When Owen finally came to, he had a hard time remembering where he was. As the grogginess began to clear from his mind he realised he was lying on a medical bed. He felt aches and pains over most of his body. Slowly the memory of the events of the mission started to come back to him. Cook hit him with his car. That bastard! Now that he remembered it, he found he was quite pissed off.

He couldn't remember much other than that, just bits and pieces. His head was throbbing, he must have hit it pretty hard. Hard enough to scramble his brain. If he was on a medical bed, he must have been back at division, but he had no memory of how he got there. All he could remember was seeing Keira's face smiling at him as she ran her hand through his hair to soothe him. He tried to move to see if she was still there, but the pain that coursed through his chest was almost unbearable and he let out a groan.

The sound startled Keira who had been asleep in the chair, her head resting on the bed next to him. Her eyes flew open and she immediately sat up. "Oh my god Owen" she cried as she flung her arms around his neck and buried her face into his collar bone.

Owen could feel the warmth of her tears trickling down his skin. "Ssshhh" he soothed. "I'm okay babe. I'm right here… I'm fine" he tried to reassure her as he rubbed her back.

Keira drew back and looked at him with tear filled eyes. She planted a desperate kiss to his lips, like she was afraid she would never get the chance again. "You nearly died Owen!" she sobbed. "You went into cardiac arrest, they had to shock you. You were bleeding internally and they had to take you into surgery".

His memory was still rather blurry and he could only recall bits and pieces of that. "The surgery? Did it go okay?" he asked, unable to remember.

"It did. The doctor says you will make a full recovery" she replied as she took a deep breath to try and calm her thumping heartbeat.

"But?" he asked, noticing the deeply sad look on her face.

"Your heart stopped during the operation… twice" she told him, a fresh wave of tears taking hold of her. "I thought I had lost you".

"Oh babe… come here" he beckoned with his arms outstretched and pulled her into a cuddle. "I'm so sorry I scared you like that".

"It's ok, it wasn't your fault. It was Cook's… that asshole".

"Cook… did we get him?" Owen asked.

"You don't remember?"

"Nah, everything is kind of a blur. I just remember bits and pieces, not much".

"Michael got him, after he hit you" she told him.

"Good… that's good. It wasn't all for nothing then".

At that moment Doctor Anna walked in. "Owen, it's good to see you're awake, you gave us all quite the scare. We had to keep you in an induced coma for a couple days, just to aid with your healing. How's your pain? Do you remember what happened to you?" she asked.

"I'm feeling a bit sore to be honest. My memory is a bit fuzzy. I remember Cook hitting me with his car, but after that I don't remember a lot".

"I'll give you another dose of pain killers. Mind if I check you over?"

"Go right ahead Doc"

She administered the drugs and took her time monitoring his heart beat and listening to his chest to ensure that everything was functioning as normal. "Well, everything sounds good. As for the memory loss, just give it a few days. Your CT scans were normal and there isn't any permanent damage. It will come back to you in time. Unfortunately you have another decent scar for your collection" she said as she pointed to the stitches in his chest where she had to open him up to perform the surgery.

"I can deal with that. Thanks Doc" he said as she left the room again.

"Good thing scars are sexy huh babe?" Owen said to Keira, earning a small giggle.

"Lucky for you" she replied. "Although I'd prefer you don't get too many more please".

"Deal. So… I was out for two days?" he asked Keira.

"You sure were" Alex cut in as her and Sean entered to check up on the two of them. "Let me tell you it was an agonizing few days. Owen, do you know how stubborn your girlfriend is?" she asked.

Owen glanced at Keira with a questioning look. "She's pretty strong willed this one" he replied as he took Keira's hand in his.

"Strong willed alright. I practically had to drag her out of here kicking and screaming to make her eat and take a shower. She refused to leave your side" Alex told him.

"It's true. I had to sit with you to convince her to leave for a bit" Sean added.

"C'mon guys give me a break" she laughed at their slight over exaggeration of how it all went down. "You pretty much died, it would have taken all of division to make me leave your side for too long".

Owen laughed in response. "That's my girl!"

"But seriously Owen, we're glad you're ok man" Sean told him, and Alex nodded in agreement.

"Well someone's gotta stick around to kick your ass on the sparring mat, right?" Owen said cheekily.

"Oh yeah? I bet I could take you now" Sean laughed.

"I bet you could too. But give me a few weeks and I'll be good as new, and it will be on"

"You got it" Sean replied.

"We'll catch up with you guys again later" Alex said as they headed for the door. "We've got some intel to go through" she added, and with that they disappeared down the hall.

"Do you need anything babe?" Keira asked.

"Just some water would be great, and can you get the doctor to come back and remove this thing" he said pointing to the catheter tube sticking out from under the blankets.

"Sure babe, I'll be right back" she said as she planted a kiss on his cheek then left the room. She stopped in to talk to Anna then headed off to get some bottled water from the mess hall. While there she ran into Nikita and Michael.

"Keira, how's he doing today?" Nikita asked.

"He's awake" she smiled in response.

"That's great news" Michael replied. "Has Anna seen him yet?"

"Yeah she was just in. She said he should make a full recovery, and the memory loss will only be temporary".

"Memory loss?" Nikita asked, the concern clear in her voice.

"Yeah, it's nothing major. He still knows who we all are and everything. He just can't really remember what happened and how he got back to division" she told them.

"I'm not surprised, he was unconscious a lot of the time" Michael said.

"Give him our best, and let him know we will be down to visit soon" Nikita told her.

"Will do" she replied as she grabbed a couple bottles of water and headed back to the medical wing.

When she arrived back to the room she found Owen trying to sit up to get out of bed. "Owen… what do you think you're doing?" she asked sternly.

"I was uncomfortable. I need to stretch my legs" he told her.

"Did the doctor say it was ok?"

"I didn't ask".

"Owen!" she scalded. "You have to be careful! I'll go back and talk to Anna ok. Wait here, drink some water. And stop trying to get out of bed" she warned giving him her best serious face.

"Alright" he said sulkily.

When Keira returned she explained to him that it was alright to get up and walk around a little, but stressed that he take it easy. She helped him off of the bed and together they went for a walk through the hallways.

"Are you feeling alright?" she asked.

"Yeah, I feel good. A little short of breath which is not something I'm used to, but other than that I'm good" he told her.

"Anna said that's to be expected and it shouldn't take long for your lungs to return to their normal capacity".

"Keira" he said as he stopped her, holding tightly onto her hand. "I honestly don't know what I would do without you".

She smiled at him in response. Her smile was something that always warmed his heart. No matter how bad things were, her smile could fix anything for him. "I need to tell you something" he said.

"What's wrong?" she asked, afraid it was something bad.

"I want you to know that… after what happened with Cook, at one point I truly thought that I was going to die. And I was… I was scared".

"That's completely normal Owen. It would be strange not to be scared in a moment like that"

"The thing is I have never been afraid of death before. As part of my training here at division, I was taught to stare death in the face and not be scared of it. And I have, so many times. But this time was different. I have never felt like that before, and I think it is because now my life has meaning. I have something to live for. I have you. Seeing your face in my mind is what made me fight to live. I knew I wanted to live. I wanted to come back to you" he said with a smile.

"Oh Owen" she whispered as she flung her arms around him.

"You have opened up my heart in a way that I never thought was possible. It both scares me and makes me happy at the same time. And I know that no matter what we face in our lives, if we face it together we can make it through. I love you more than I can even say" he whispered.

"I love you too Owen, more than anything in the world".

Time seemed to stand still is they held each other in a warm embrace. With Owen's close call neither of them wanted to let the other go. It was at that moment that Owen knew he had to make Keira his, officially. He had known for a while that she was the one for him, and now he wanted to show her that he would be hers forever. He was going to ask her to marry him. All he need was a plan…

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**Please take the time to leave me a review, thanks. I apologize for any spelling/grammar errors, I do my best to pick them up.**

**I would like to say a special thank you to my wonderful Guest reviewer. You motivate me to keep going with this story and your feedback is much appreciated! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and keep an eye out for the next one :) I am very excited about where this is headed.**


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